Stop Evictions, Stop the State, Defend the Working Class and Poor

southern africa | community struggles | opinion / analysis Friday November 29, 2013 03:42 by Pitso Mompe - Tokologo African Anarchist Collective tokologo.aac at gmail dot com

Forced evictions are a violation of human rights that requires urgent global attention. In 2008 between 30 and 50 million people in 70 countries worldwide lived under constant threat of being forcibly evicted (according to the International Alliance of Inhabitants).

Those that are most affected are working class people and peasants living in poverty. It’s always the poor who are evicted.

All over the world, states remove people from their homes, and destroy their livelihoods, without offering alternative accommodation or compensation, without respecting safeguards for the victims as set out in international standards; and without observing the due process of the law that supposedly binds the state.

In many cases, the authorities do not bother to consult the affected people in a meaningful or democratic way. Tens of thousands have been made homeless after being forcibly evicted from their homes, without any consultation or warning.

Many residents are given little or no time to relocate – or even pack their belongings, which are then usually destroyed or confiscated during evictions.

So why should we trust the state if it is responsible for these forced evictions? We must trust in our own struggles and resistance. We must wage anarchist class struggle create a new and better world, building counterpower and counter-culture.