June, 2006

Editorial: Homelessness -- Crime against humanity

Los Angeles is one of the richest and glitziest of American cities. It also has the dubious distinction of being the "US homeless capital." Over 90,000 human beings wander its streets, eating from garbage cans, sleeping on doorsteps or in ghettos on cardboard boxes, alongside the majestic skyscrapers that light up the downtown skyline.

This crime against humanity is not confined to Los Angeles. Today, hunger and homelessness affects 38 million people. Families constitute the fastest growing section of the poor, comprising 29 percent of the nation's homeless. Cities overwhelmingly expect that requests for food and housing will increase in 2006.

The American people want an end to homelessness. Once the government began dismantling social programs in favor of privatization, countless church, student and community groups who were opposed to the immorality of the system arose to fight for more beds, social programs and aid to help the poor. Yet, nothing has changed. The reason is because the people have been misled. They have dealt solely with the symptoms of the problem, and not the cause.

The cause of homelessness today is a changing economy. Capitalism rests on human labor. But, the economy is changing into a system based on workerless, wageless production. As a result, a new class of propertyless people is being born that cannot survive within the capitalist system. Proof of this was seen when Katrina's refugees were told, "You're on your own." To hide this callous, selfishness on the part of the ruling class, during the Reagan years, the American people were taught a new "morality." They were told that the only important thing in life is your own material wealth. They then turned their back on those who are unable to keep up in a dog-eat-dog society.

The result is that 269 U.S billionaires -- people like Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, and the owners of Wal-Mart -- live like kings. Worldwide, 793 billionaires have a combined worth of $2.6 trillion, up 18% from a year ago, while 3 billion people live on less than $1 a day. This shows the direction the world is heading. We have to line up our social activity with the new reality.

The ruling class cannot change the system to conform to the new technology without destroying themselves as a ruling class. Therefore they must blame and condemn the victims of the system rather than the system itself. The only social force that can change society is those who are being abandoned by the society. They must be educated.

We, the people, have the means to eliminate homelessness and hunger in America overnight. The new technology and global market that is eliminating jobs is at the same time producing a world of plenty. Instead of a system that gives tax breaks to corporations, investors and billionaires, we can create a society that opens up and builds public housing, that provides food and necessities to all based on need, and that turns the productive capacity now held by the big corporations over to the nation. The only thing standing in the way is private property.

We are approaching a fork in the road. Either we visualize and fight for an America without capitalism and its miseries, or one by one we shall enter that hell of homelessness.

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