Outlaw Homelessness

 

Outlaw Homelessness 

by C. A. Matthews

 Arresting the homeless for camping in public areas, "loitering" in parks, and sleeping on sidewalks is nothing new. In fact, Los Angeles recently passed a law that makes being homeless in the city illegal. Police regularly grab and pitch people's tents and belongings, and there are well over 66,000 homeless individuals in L.A. at last count.

What if we flipped this social challenge on its head? What if we didn't turn the homeless into "outlaws" but outlawed the whole tragedy of homelessness instead?

Outlaw homelessness.

How would this work? I envision a similar program such as the one implemented in Finland. If a person is found to be without a secure home--for whatever reason--we simply provide one for them. It's not like there's any shortage of housing. It's estimated there's at least 17 million empty housing units in the US. That's more than enough to house the current estimate of 11 million homeless individuals.

So, what gives? Why aren't we providing homes for folks who need them when there's no shortage of empty homes? Answer: Because capitalists like landlords and international real estate holding firms don't want to fill those empty homes. It's better in their opinion to make everyone believe there's a shortage of housing so the capitalists can charge higher rent prices and drive up sale prices when they do decide to sell off some of their surplus housing stock.

Simply put, capitalists hoard things--money, houses, spaceships, yachts, etc.--so that others can't use them. The capitalists themselves aren't in need of these surplus homes since they have homes of their own in quite nice neighborhoods. They just don't want these empty homes they're hoarding to be used unless they can dictate the terms, even if these terms mean that ordinary people won't be able to afford to rent or buy these homes and even could be evicted during a pandemic.

Logically, then, the only way to effectively outlaw homelessness is to outlaw capitalism. Forever.

You're probably thinking, "It can't be done!" but I beg to differ. It can be done and it must be done for the sake of our homeless (and about to be evicted) neighbors. "How can it be done?" is the better question, and it's a tough one to answer. Why? Because for every homeless person in the US there are at least a dozen others working against any change in the status quo.

And why do Americans (some of whom aren't particularly well-to-do) wish to maintain things they way they are? Why should they support the capitalists at all? The obvious answer is that those who have a lot of wealth and power are loathed to give any of it up, and those who kiss up to the capitalists are hoping some of the "crumbs" will fall from the capitalists' table and into their laps.

But I believe there's a deeper fear beneath this heartlessness and hoarding. I believe that many capitalists (and their sycophants) are afraid that if they share any of their material wealth they will somehow be diminished in the eyes of others and thought less of. We might even make fun of the way they dress, talk, act, and well... hoard things.

In other words, capitalists are deeply afraid that no one will take care of them if and when they ever need to be taken care of, and they'll become as unwanted and uncared for as those poor souls currently camping in our cities' streets.

It's not an unreasonable fear on the capitalists' part. They realize just how much they hate their "neighbors," so they conclude that their "neighbors" are bound to reflect some of this hatred back at them. I've covered this particular irrational fear before, so I won't go into it here. You can read all about it in this piece: Why are the rich so scared of socialism?

Until we wipe out all fears that both the homeless and the capitalists have, we will continue to suffer this great divide of haves versus have nots in our society. And we will continue to see a growing number of homeless neighbors while simultaneously enjoying a growing surplus of housing units in the US.

It's insane. It's inhumane. But that's capitalism for you.

Outlaw homelessness. Today.

Here are some more videos and articles to think on:

 https://youtu.be/55QdFl_5l7I

The Moratorium Extension Won't End Evictions  https://therealnews.com/the-moratorium-extension-wont-end-%EF%BB%BFevictions

Capitalism is Holding All of Us Hostage  https://therealnews.com/richard-wolff-capitalism-is-holding-all-of-us-hostage

Why Are the Rich So Scared of Socialism? https://bernie2016.blogspot.com/2020/01/why-are-rich-so-scared-of-socialism.html

Los Angeles Criminalizes Being Homeless  https://www.yahoo.com/news/los-angeles-criminalizes-being-homeless-171023695.html

 How Finland Solved Homelessness  https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/02/how-finland-solved-homelessness 

 

The two things the world urgently needs to bring an end to are the climate crisis and landlords

— Council Estate Media (@CEMEDlA) August 8, 2021

What’s it called when the bank says you cannot afford a $950 mortgage payment so you’re stuck paying $1500 in rent instead.

— alex 🇲🇽 (@r8dr4lfe75) August 8, 2021

Landlords want 2021 prices with 1993 kitchens and bathrooms

— 𝙅𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙚 #𝙁𝙧𝙚𝙚𝘼𝙨𝙨𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚 (@ActivistJesse09) August 8, 2021

***

Demand that Congress pass an eviction moratorium that protects EVERY American!

Sign Now

By the end of summer 2021, an estimated 7 million tenants in the U.S. will be behind on rent. With the COVID-19 pandemic upending life as we know it, families all over the country have faced job and health crises, resulting in finances so tight, they can't afford to keep a roof over their heads. As if this weren't bad enough, the Biden administration has now announced they don't have the ability on their own to extend the federal eviction moratorium. This means that we are entering an unprecedented housing crisis which will certainly devastate families' and individuals' lives if we don't head this off now. As many as 1.2 million tenants have reported that they were very likely to be evicted as soon as the moratorium expired on July 31. The country now faces a race against the clock to find resources and shelter for millions of people, even as we are now facing yet another wave of increased COVID transmissions and lockdowns. Although Biden has said he does not have the power to extend the original moratorium himself, Congress does have this power. If lawmakers were to reconvene immediately and reinstate the mortatorium, countless families could be spared from disaster. We need bold action from Biden and Congress, and fast. Sign here to demand that Congress stay in session until they extend the federal eviction moratorium to protect all Americans! Thank you,   Miranda The Care2 Petitions Team P.S. The eviction moratorium prevented landlords from kicking people impacted by the COVID recession to the curb, but now it's over. Sign the petition to extend this moratorium.

***

There are more than 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. and every one should have a safe pathway to citizenship.

Immigrants are essential to the success of America. During the pandemic, roughly 23 million immigrants -- including 5 million who are undocumented -- served as health care workers, public health and safety workers, food system workers and farmworkers.

Some of the undocumented are Dreamers, brought here as children. Other immigrants are here legally due to war, political persecution or natural disasters in their countries of origin.

A recent Gallup poll proves that the American people overwhelmingly, by a 75% to 21% margin, support creating a pathway to citizenship.

Now we can make it happen. Senator Bernie Sanders, Chair of the Senate Budget Committee, has included $150 billion in the $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation proposal earmarked specifically for implementing immigration policies, including a pathway to citizenship.

But Bernie needs our help building support to make sure it doesn’t get cut during negotiations on a final bill. It’s time to finally let the undocumented come out of the shadows with a pathway to citizenship.

Please write a quick message to your members of Congress demanding they support the inclusion of a pathway to citizenship in the budget reconciliation package right now.

Send your letter

Our letter writing tool is easy to use.

Just enter in your information and we’ll find and target your letter to your members of Congress. We’ve provided suggested text too, but if you’d rather write your own you can edit it and say it in your own words.

Whether your message is short and to the point or long enough to tell your personal story -- or one of a friend or family member -- you can be sure your letter will be delivered immediately.

For too long Congress has failed to take action on immigration. Isn’t it time for Congress to deliver solutions that reflect both our shared values and our national interests?

Take Action Now

All undocumented immigrants, essential workers, Dreamers, and those fleeing disasters or political persecution should be provided a pathway to citizenship without more delay.

Thank you for fighting for change.

-LeeAnn

LeeAnn Hall
Director, National Campaign for Transit Justice

"Kind Imperialism"

"Kind Imperialism"

by C.A. Matthews

After a half year of studying US immigration law and policy, you'd think I'd be over it by now. But I'm not. I feel like ripping my hair out by the roots some days because our government refuses to follow its own laws and the protocols it has signed with the United Nations but somehow expects everyone else on the planet to do so. Perfectly, no less!

Hypocritical isn't it?

What triggered my hair pulling this week was news of how the Biden administration is expediting removals at the border. Our government is so hyped up to send people packing as fast as possible who step over the invisible boundary line that it's actually deporting US citizens. Yeah, no kidding! ICE has arrested 674, detained 121, and deported at least 70 US citizens in the past five years.

What makes this horror even more horrific is that non-citizens aren't guaranteed legal representation, and we've adopted a "guilty until proven innocent" attitude toward these poor souls. So, these unfortunates soon find themselves locked up in "detention facilities" (a nice name for a private-run, for-profit prison) until someone can find out what the hell happened to them and spring them.

Our Border Patrol and ICE won't believe you when you simply state that you're a US citizen or even bother to look up your contacts to testify to the fact apparently. They just enjoy locking people up during a pandemic who don't fit their idea of what a "citizen" is supposed to look like.

How many white people do you think ICE "accidentally" locked up in their detention centers? How many with Hispanic surnames or dark skin? Uh-huh.

But the worst injustice happens to asylum seekers who are coming to our country looking for refuge from well-founded fears of gang violence, domestic violence, and war. The US signed the 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees stating that we agree with the UN's definition of a refugee. It says:

A refugee is any person who is outside their country of nationality and is unwilling or unable to return because of fear of persecution because of that person's race, nationality, religion, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion and the government is unable or unwilling to provide protection.

We've agreed to protect refugees, officially labeled by the UN or self-labeled (asylum seekers). And yet we won't let these asylum seekers stay in the US as we process their claim to asylum as we agreed to when we signed the 1967 Protocol. No, we're kicking them out at our border crossings without due process, without an actual hearing with a trained asylum officer who is capable of accepting their plea for asylum.

We let ICE officers act like Nazi Brown Shirts and deny asylum seekers justice. We are breaking our own laws and breaking our covenant with the United Nations in regards to refugees. We are the lawbreakers--not those fleeing for their lives.

They are simply trying to find a safe haven. They are searching for a peaceful land to live in and raise their families. Many have escaped hell, and then we greet them at our borders with more of the same. In desperation, many have sent their children on ahead of them to the US in hopes of keeping their kids safe from the violence they are fleeing.

We really should be ashamed of ourselves. For some reason, we are not.

Yes, the "kids are cages" exist to this very day. Children fleeing for their lives because they are orphaned, abused, or were told by their parents or guardians that it was safer for them in the US than to remain in their homeland. This surge in unaccompanied children began during the Obama administration and has continued on under his former vice president.

You can change the figurehead in Washington DC, but you can't change our egregious immigration policies, or so it seems. Our immigration policing agencies (birthed a mere 20 years ago with the creation of the Department of Homeland Security) continue to reinforce the same racist, capitalistic, slave-laborer-loving quotas that the oligarchs have desired since the founding of our country.

"Kind Imperialism" is one way of putting it. The US has conquered/is conquering/is attempting to conquer the rest of the world, and yet we try to keep a kind face on our imperialistic, colonizing ways. Face it--we're not the friendly "melting pot" of cultures we were taught in fifth grade social studies. I haven't believed that lie for many years now.

Have you?

It doesn't take a certificate in immigration advocacy to understand prejudice and inhumanity after observing our government's actions toward immigrants. It's time for Americans to confess their personal indifference and call out the travesty of justice inflicted upon our neighbors by the agents of the DHS.

It's time to act kindly toward our neighbors.

Related Articles:

Very telling videos: "The Racist Border You Don't Hear About"  https://youtu.be/OwJBSDqPNUU 

"What It's Really Like To Be Caught By Border Patrol" https://youtu.be/AI0F3I_GNEE

Biden Furthers Trump Immigration Policy with Expedited Deportations of Families  https://truthout.org/articles/biden-furthers-trump-immigration-policy-with-expedited-deportations-of-families/

Tell Biden to Reopen US Border to Asylum Seekers  https://www.afsc.org/action/tell-president-biden-reopen-us-border-to-asylum-seekers

ICE Deports US Citizens  https://immigrationimpact.com/2021/07/30/ice-deport-us-citizens/

Primer on Expedited Removal  https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/primer-expedited-removal 

Detained Immigrant Children Didn't Have Adequate Masks During a Covid Outbreak, Whistleblowers Allege https://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/70736-detained-immigrant-children-didnt-have-adequate-masks-during-a-covid-outbreak-whistleblowers-allege

Even more immigration articles:

https://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/70225-the-number-of-immigrants-jailed-by-ice-has-ballooned-under-biden-this-year

https://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/70183-an-immigration-courts-backlog-keeps-central-american-youth-in-legal-limbo

https://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/70168-supreme-court-rules-us-government-can-indefinitely-detain-some-immigrants

https://truthout.org/articles/better-than-trump-isnt-good-enough-end-deportation-now/

https://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/69910-immigration-judges-feel-overburdened-and-pressured-to-deport
 

***

BREAKING: The Biden administration just announced it will continue a Trump-era policy, known as Title 42, that bars families from entering the country under the false-pretense that it’ll keep us safe from COVID.

Make no mistake – President Biden is choosing to continue a cruel and racist policy that puts children and families in danger and is the opposite of the values that should underpin our immigration system: care, compassion, and dignity.

This is outrageous, and we need to create an immediate and massive public backlash to force President Biden to back down. Will you add your name to our urgent petition calling for an end to the cruel Trump-era policy known as Title 42?

ADD YOUR NAME →

Title 42’s impact has already been horrific – 875,000 people seeking asylum in the United States have been blocked from entering since March 2020. Families have been expelled to dangerous Mexican border cities where they’re often targeted by gangs and have less access to medical care and protective measures from COVID.

If this was really about public health – as the Biden administration claims – they could instead expand COVID-19 testing for families and children at the southern border or provide immediate vaccinations. In fact if anything the Biden administration’s immigration policies are *increasing* the risks of COVID for asylum seekers and for people in the U.S. by keeping families in unsafe conditions as they wait for legal entry.

The Biden administration has said they need time to fix the policies inherited from Trump. But seven months into office this is no longer an extension of a Trump policy: this is President Biden choosing to implement an inhumane immigration policy.

But it’s not too late to stop it and we’ve been successful pressuring President Biden before. In April, when President Biden tried to keep the refugee caps at the shamefully low levels Trump had imposed, thousands of us forced Biden’s team to quickly change course -- so we *have* to step up quickly again.

Add your name to our urgent petition now to demand the Biden Administration end the cruel Trump-era Title 42 policy, and replace it with a dignified, compassionate process to receive people seeking asylum.

People seeking protection deserve a warm welcome, not a cold shoulder. Absolutely no one should be detained, separated or instantly rejected without a fair hearing for trying to get their child out of harm’s way, especially amidst a global pandemic that affects migrant families at disproportionate rates.

More than ever, we need bold solutions to fix the broken immigration and asylum system. We need to push back on the notion that we as a country cannot rise to this task: We can.

Thanks for all you do,

Erin Mazursky, Organizing Director
Families Belong Together

***

 

Pololū Valley is a sacred place in Hawaii. It’s not only known for its beauty and lush wildlife, but it’s also land that embodies the history of Hawaiian people. But it now faces a severe threat: developers who could turn it into a parking lot. Hundreds of thousands are outraged, and are demanding immediate action to save this sacred land. The group Protect Pololū Valley started this petition and need your support to protect Pololū Valley.

Protect Pololū Valley

698,888 have signed Protect Pololu Valley’s petition. Let’s get to 1,000,000!

Sign now with a click

Do not donate. Donations do not come to the Protect Pololū! Pololū is a sacred place. A pu’uhōnua (a place of refuge, peace and safety). Kohala is the birthplace of an infant who sought refuge in Pololū Valley and grew up to become the King of Hawaii and unify the lands. Original place names of this region tell the mo’olelo (story) of how the people of this place protected this infant on his journey to Pololū Valley. "A‘ohe u‘i hele wale o Kohala" (No youth of Kohala goes empty-handed) speaks to the generosity of the Kohala people. Pololū Valley is more than a place of "cultural signficance". It is the history of the Hawaiian people. It is a place of refuge that we must protect for our future generations. On December 11, 2020 at the Board of Land and Natural Resources meeting the Division of Forestry and Wildlife submitted a request for approval to apply as a co-applicant to the County of Hawaii Planning Department together with Surety Kohala Corporation and KP Holdings LLC to submit a PCRS application for a 13-lot subdivision along the ridge at Pololū Valley. A request for approval to enter into a Letter of Intent with Surety Kohala Corporation and KP Holdings LLC was also submitted to donate land to the State of Hawaii.  At this meeting representatives from these organizations spoke as if the community was in agreement with their submittals. No one from the community attended the meeting or was notified about it. Prior discussions with the community were about the donation of lands to the State which include 5 acres to build a "comfort station" and parking lot for visitors and acreage on the valley floor for conservation. There was NO discussion about the proposed subdivison along the ridge. Surety Kohala Corporation and KP Holdings LLC will only donate land to the State AFTER the County approves the application for the subdivision. This is not a donation. It’s a payout. This is a process of greed. It doesn’t consider the wisdom of our kūpuna (elders) and the future of our keiki (children). It doesn’t acknowledge Pololū Valley as a wahi pāna (a sacred place). Instead, the land is sold, as "the best view" to the highest bidder, during a pandemic and a climate crisis. The State of Hawaii has mismanaged conservation lands of our sacred mountain Mauna Kea, just as these organizations continue to mismanage the generosity of the people. SIGN THIS PETITION TO PROTECT POLOLŪ VALLEY AND TELL SURETY KOHALA CORPORATION AND KP HOLDINGS LLC, BOARD OF LAND AND NATURAL RESOURCES, DIVISION OF FORESTRY AND WILDLIFE, COUNTY OF HAWAII AND THE COUNTY OF HAWAII PLANNING DEPARTMENT THAT OUR VOICES WILL BE HEARD AND THAT WE DO NOT WANT MORE DESECRATION AT THIS SACRED PLACE OF REFUGE. *You do not need to donate. Donations do not come to the Protect Pololu Valley page. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OwZ3UuvYPPk&feature=share

Sign now with a click

Visit petition page   *** From Public Citizen:   No matter how much we all wish it were so, the coronavirus pandemic is NOT over: The much more contagious Delta variant is now the dominant strain of COVID-19 in the U.S. Cases, hospitalizations, and deaths are spiking in many parts of the country. Far too many people have refused to get vaccinated (in large part because of irresponsible and unconscionable propaganda being spread by countless Republican politicians and right-wing media degenerates like Fox News’ sadistic Tucker Carlson — who are sacrificing their own followers to advance a Trumpist, neo-fascist agenda). Yet state and local officials all across America are lifting commonsense restrictions and ending relief efforts as if the pandemic is all but over, despite the plain evidence staring us right in our faces. And it’s all even worse throughout much of the world. There is, to state the obvious, A LOT of work still to do. One thing we need to do — and fast — is put pressure on Moderna, Pfizer, and Johnson & Johnson to share their vaccine technology with the world. This will help save millions of lives around the globe and minimize the risk of even worse variants making their way to America. Tell the CEOs of Moderna, Pfizer, and Johnson & Johnson: Share your vaccine recipes and know-how with the world — to save millions of lives around the globe and to reduce the risk of even worse variants making their way to America. Add your name. Thanks for taking action. For progress,  Robert Weissman, President of Public Citizen

 

Why Do We Love Billionaires So Much?

Why Do We Love Billionaires So Much?

 By C.A. Matthews

 

It confounds me. We're angry when we aren't paid what we should be, tired of how some capitalists blatantly steal from the public purse and don't pay their fare share, and yet we act mesmerized whenever the ultra-rich pull a flashy stunt to generate more publicity for their money-making machines.

You know what I'm talking about--the heavy mainstream media coverage of both Richard Branson's and Jeff Bezos' recent "joy rides" into the upper atmosphere. You'd think their private lives would be of zero interest to everyday folks slaving away in dead-end jobs in these billionaires' concerns, but the mainstream media seems to think their activities are more important than climate catastrophes happening around the globe this week. In fact, the big news outlets spent almost the same amount of air time covering Bezos' pretend space race adventure than they did on stories dealing with the multitude of deadly floods, droughts, forest fires and other climate emergencies that occurred on the same day.

Obviously, what rich people do with their billions for fun is infinitely more important than our children's safety or futures.

Or could it be…the mainstream media just wants us to think we love billionaires and find their antics lovable? Could it be we don't really love the hoarding toadies at all, but the powers-that-be want us to be tolerant of them and their destructive ways? Tolerant enough that we don't all grab our pitchforks and build guillotines before our homes burn down in a drought-driven forest fire?

"Just a little off the top," one can imagine Jeff Bezos muttering as thousands of his ill-treated warehouse workers lead him up the scaffolding to meet the blade.

It's time to be honest with ourselves. We--and by this I mean you, me, our children and loved ones--are the 99%. We can't afford to put up with these "lovable antics" by the überwealthy any longer. The 1% have by far the largest carbon footprint. Scientists tell us that the 1% and their conspicuous consumption is the leading cause of climate change. The 1% are the spoilers of this planet and human life in general.

It's time we stopped admiring them. It's time we stop kidding ourselves that we'll ever become one of them. You know deep down the odds that you will ever become a billionaire are a billion to one. So, if we're never going to become a member of the billionaire club what can we do to give our lives meaning? 

First off, we can stop the idol worshiping right now. There's no such thing as a "good billionaire" as I heard someone say. It's an oxymoron like "military intelligence." The two words don't belong in the same sentence. Billionaires aren't God. They're not "good" because they own just about everything and everyone on the planet and keep it to themselves. End the adoration of their senseless buffoonery in fast planes and dildo-shaped rockets.

Second thing, stop making excuses for these clowns in designer clothing. They are not better than the rest of us. They're not even smarter than the rest of us. Didn't Trump's nonsensical tweets make that fact more than obvious? Billionaires were simply born into wealth and have used that wealth to take things away from those less fortunate--such as our land, natural resources, our labor, our clean air, drinking water, and now even outer space. They live to make a profit off of everything and everyone.

(And you do qualify as one of the "less fortunate" if you actually pay your taxes. Most billionaires don't pay any.) 

Last, but not least, call out the mainstream media and others who attempt to glorify the billionaires and their activities. No more spreading their propaganda. Tell it like it is--they're greedy bastards who don't share their wealth, treat their workers like slaves, and get away without even paying their fair share of taxes. They're not to be emulated, idolized, admired, or tolerated. Shut down their PR spokespeople. 

Think of billionaires as your ex. You walked away from that dysfunctional relationship, didn't you? You know you are strong enough to walk away from the likes of Branson, Bezos, Musk, Gates, Buffet, the Walton family, etc. You don't need them to distract you from what really matters in life--taking care of yourself, your loved ones, and your neighbors. 

Let the billionaires go--and be sure to let the door hit them hard on the backside as they exit!

 

Fifty years ago, poet Gil Scott-Heron expressed a similar attitude on this very subject.

https://youtu.be/goh2x_G0ct4

Billionaire Dreams are our Nightmares: https://youtu.be/-mKAI34chNo

Poverty Wages and Tax Dodging Funded Bezos' Ridiculous Space Trip https://truthout.org/articles/poverty-wages-and-tax-dodging-funded-bezoss-ridiculous-space-trip/

Learn more about the billionaires' "space race" in Coast Watcher's recent article, Billionaires in Spaaace! https://continuousrev.blogspot.com/2021/06/billionaires-in-spaaaace.html

And be sure to check out the best place on the web for independent journalism: https://radindiemedia.com/

What if UFOs are just billionaires from other planets?

— 𝙏𝙤𝙢 𝙃𝙞𝙘𝙠𝙨 (@tlhicks713) July 24, 2021

 

If you're arguing the success of capitalism based on this psychopath having spent 10 minutes in space while millions are deprived of medical care and/or bankrupted by medical bills, you're as twisted as he is. Just dumber. pic.twitter.com/JMm4nHSb7U

— ✊🏻 Stained Class (@DEMS_R_GOP) July 21, 2021

 

Hahaha why no I cannot pay you a fair wage you lowly Amazon worker, I need that money for a five billion-dollar carnival ride

— Caitlin Johnstone ⏳ (@caitoz) July 20, 2021

***

As Seattle was breaking records with triple-digit temperatures, Amazon warehouse managers called for a "power hour." They were pushing workers to run fast and pack faster despite having no indoor air conditioning in the warehouse.¹

Amazon puts productivity over the safety of their workers. They use high-tech algorithms to enforce it, surveilling workers and punishing them if they can’t meet the algorithm’s goals, even in the heat. This kind of workplace surveillance shouldn’t be legal, that’s why Congress needs to act now.

Sign the petition: Tell Congress to protect Amazon workers from dangerous workplace surveillance!

ADD YOUR NAME

Even before the "heat dome" Amazon warehouses were already dangerous places to work. Amazon uses high-tech algorithms like Rate and Time off Task to push workers to the physical limit and then punish them for taking bathroom breaks.² It’s so bad OSHA once called Amazon warehouses one of the most dangerous jobs in America.³

Workplace surveillance and productivity algorithms shouldn’t be legal in the first place. But our legal system lags behind the pace of technology. Unless Congress closes the gap, Amazon will continue to use its high-tech grip to squeeze the life out of its warehouse workers. Like, increasing productivity rates, during a historic heatwave, in a warehouse without air conditioning.

Join thousands of activists already calling on Congress to fix this and protect Amazon workers.

Sign the petition: Tell Congress to protect Amazon workers from dangerous workplace surveillance!

Thank you for speaking out,

Tihi and the team at Watchdog -- a project of Demand Progress

DONATE

Sources:
1. Daily Dot, "Amazon warehouse runs productivity contest at warehouse despite record-breaking heatwave," June 28, 2021.
2. The Verge, "How Amazon automatically tracks and fires warehouse workers for 'productivity'" April 25, 2019.
3. Futurism, "After Deaths, Amazon Lands on List of Most Dangerous Employers," October 18, 2019.

 ***

It’s a big week for the resistance. As the Line 3 protest camps continue to meet the unprecedented advancement of Enbridge’s dangerous pipeline — arrests are happening nearly every day as this Indigenous-led movement attempts to stop a host of river crossings — my colleague, Chase Iron Eyes, and our full media team are heading out to the frontlines right now.

This trip, and our staff’s ongoing dedication to media creation, outreach, and logistical support, is a huge investment — and it’s one we hope you’ll help us make. We’re going all in on providing the camps with needed equipment and capability to amplify this struggle now, while we still have a chance to protect Anishinaabe homelands. Will you give generously in this moment to protect our relatives and our world?

Water protectors at a Line 3 front in June. Photo by Christopher Francisco.

Our presence — and that of any allies who can also make the trip — is badly needed. In 2016 and 2017, the movement against the Dakota Access pipeline at Standing Rock attracted tens of thousands. In Minnesota, we are far fewer, and we’re spread thin across several camps. Those already on the frontlines are struggling logistically to stop Enbridge’s rapid build across many bodies of water. As you can see below, the police presence is mighty. We must do all we can.

Police ready to enforce Line 3’s incursions in June. Photo by Christopher Francisco.

Fortunately, we’re joining a coalition led by knowledgeable Indigenous leaders like Winona LaDuke of Honor the Earth, who was arrested this week, and Tara Houska of Giniw collective (pictured below). Our first jobs are to get there, set up, listen to the needs, and begin amplifying the voices of those on the ground.

Giniw Collective’s Tara Houska provides leadership against Line 3. Photo by Christopher Francisco.

The time is now. This week, another mistake in construction spewed noxious fluids into another sacred river. As they always do, this pipeline is already despoiling pristine waters. How much worse will it be when the tar sands oil — some of the world’s dirtiest — is spilled in these same water systems? We must not let that happen. We’re preparing to hold our ground for as long as it takes, and we thank you from our hearts for your generous support of this mission.

Wopila tanka — thank you for supporting our direct action against this toxic pipeline!
Madonna Thunder Hawk
Cheyenne River Organizer
The Lakota People’s Law Project