Go for it! Housing should be a right-- just like health care should be a right for all. All this empty housing-- individual homes, empty condos, etc., held in foreclosure by the banks while people in their millions are homeless-- this is CRIMINAL.

This is a good answer to one of the patent absurdities of the supply/demand functions of a capitalist market. There is a supply, there is a demand, and yet we can't get them to meet. This shows the lie.

There is a cat and mouse “game” being played out in San Francisco—Occupy was raided Monday night, then people returning and setting up some tents, then having those tents torn down, only to return again. And while for a few people, Occupy Our Homes might not seem as intense (or even “glamorous”) as the hundreds of showdowns and standoff's that continue to take place all over the U.S. at Occupy sites, OOH is resonating with thousands of people, including not just those who face foreclosure and/or eviction. OOH is not just some tactic, but has become an integral part of the original OWS movement.

In some cities, the fight has been two-pronged: Both to stop evictions and foreclosures, and when a home has been vacated, turn that home into a medical clinic, educational or community center, or even housing families who have been thrown to the wolves and out on the street. Another leg of this fight has been to expose, investigate, and take on the very banks and lending institutions who have further robbed the people blind:

Occupy Oakland made this statement:

<blockquote>The national Occupy Our Homes campaign challenges a deliberate Wall Street strategy that has made billions for those at the top while devastating the 99%:

■Banks created a housing bubble, deliberately designing predatory loans with balloon payments, variable rates, and other features that would yield short-term profits while preying on families least able to pay.
■They knew that many of these loans could not be repaid, but they didn’t care because they planned to package and re-sell the mortgages to investors who then were left holding the bag.
■The economy crashed as a result of this bank-created house of cards, putting tens of millions of Americans out of work. Unemployment is overwhelmingly the primary cause of foreclosures, not over-extended consumers. </blockquote>

Meanwhile, on <b>December 12th, </b>this coming Monday, all along the West Coast (“San Diego, L.A., Oakland, Portland, Tacoma and beyond”)…”Occupy Strikes Back, Coordinated West Coast Port Blockade”—“Shutdown Wall Street on the Waterfront.”

<blockquote> “We’re shutting down these ports because of the union busting and attacks on the working class by the 1%: the firing of Port truckers organizing at SSA terminals in LA; the attempt to rupture ILWU union jurisdiction in Longview, WA by EGT. EGT includes Bunge LTD, a company which reported 2.5 billion dollars in profit last year and has economically devastated poor people in Argentina and Brazil. SSA is responsible for inhumane working conditions and gross exploitation of port truckers and is owned by Goldman Sachs. EGT and Goldman Sachs is Wallstreet on the Waterfront” stated Barucha Peller of the West Coast Port Blockade Assembly of Occupy Oakland.

“We are also striking back against the nationally’ coordinated attack on the Occupy movement. In response to the police violence and camp evictions against the Occupy movement- This is our coordinated response against the 1%. On December 12th we will show our collective power through pinpointed economic blockade of the 1%.”</blockquote>

However, some of the media “reporting” on this upcoming event (modeled after the General Strike and shutdown of the Port of Oakland in November) is being portrayed as very controversial, supposedly without the endorsement of the Longshoreman’s union (ILWU): It’s the old “outside agitators” routine, directed at those organizing the blockade, to de-legitimize this mass call to action.

On the other hand, it is being reported that support is growing for the blockade across the board.

<blockquote> “These Ports are public. People have a right to come to the Port and protest. The ILWU has historically honored picket lines at the Port.” stated Clarence Thomas, a member of ILWU Local 10.

“ILWU longshore workers are involved as individuals in the planning of the Shutdown. “I am a longshoreman and I support the December 12th Blockade against EGT. EGT is a threat to the survival of the ILWU,” stated Anthony Leviege, a member of Local 10.” </blockquote>

!La lucha continua! For more information (and to see and get a hold of the striking—no pun intended—posters) go to occupyoakland.org.

I was glad to hear that Bank of America was none too happy about this: http://www.sfbg.com/politics/2011/12/06/bank-america-frets-about-occupy

This is another step in the right direction. This whole process of combating residential gentrification and speculation should include at some point campaigns for expanding resident association guarantees beyond the privilege of homeowners and towards the formation of separate tenant associations, for limiting all residential writs of possession and eviction for the benefit of private parties to cases of tenant neglect, and for establishing comprehensive tax and other financial preferences for renting over home ownership