According to today's news, 16 or 17 of the homeless folk camping at the so-called Safe Ground* campsite on C Street near 13th were arrested and their tents and belongings seized.It's an unhappy situation. Had the campers been arrested for doing their best to live in a city/county that allows no space for them, I would be outraged. But, truly, the event is not that: It is orchestrated political theatre, motivated in big part by the vanity of a far-left-wing lawyer and homeless-aid-industry narcissism where homeless people are manipulated and used to spur donations, and to give homeless-aid nonprofit executives liberal cache on the progressive cocktail-party circuit. [That's my informed guess, at least.]
As incredible as it sounds, the "Safe Ground movement" is involved with communist politics. It's 1917 all over again at Loaves & Fishes.
Cathleen Williams, an attorney herself, wife of "Safe Ground movement" lead attorney Mark Merin, has called for "a revolution" passionately citing an article in the August issue of People's Tribune, "Revolutionaries Must Rally the People to a Vision of a New World." The article calls for "a society where everyone able to do so would have the opportunity to make a contribution to society, and would in turn receive everything they needed to lead a civilized life. Anyone unable to contribute because of age, illness or disability would be taken care of. All would have health care. There would be no unemployment, no poverty." If that's not equivalent to Karl Marx's communist utopia vision of "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need," I don't know what is.
People's Tribune calls for an end to capitalism and advancing technology. Cathleen Williams has written perhaps ten articles for People's Tribune; one where her association with markmerin.com is indicated. Ms. Williams's poem "Food" ends with the sentiment that if extreme poverty meant enough to the reader, she/he "would bring [the capitalist] system down. [Prior posts in this blog have been, in part, about meetings re Safe Ground led by Ms. Williams: See "Mayor's Homeless Task Force envisions legal homeless encampment next spring" on Aug 11, 2009, and "Common ground on safe ground. Common sense, not communism." on Aug 18, 2009.]
Paula Lomazzi who is the doer-of-all-things administrator of the organization SHOC [Sacramento Homeless Organizing Committee] is proud to have written one rather benign article for the publication in its August 2009 issue.
Several members of the homeless community that have been recruited by SHOC associate themselves with communist ideas and are involved in the Safe Ground movement. John Kraintz who is pictured often and quoted invariably when Sacramento homelessness is written about these days sees events in terms of 1930s America and the need for an aggressive labor organizing movement. He's angry, he has his gripes, and can find no merit in thinking that doesn't jive with his own.
Kraintz sees himself as having enormous influence in the movement, telling me that if he chose to exercise it, he could have his way on all matters that come up relating to Safe Ground. I have told him that the connection with communism is likely to waylay the effort for a legal homeless encampment in Sacramento, but Kraintz insists he will do nothing to blunt the communist connection, though it appears that the matter is getting much discussion in the many committees relating to the movement behind the scenes.
The matter of the legitimacy of the encampment on C Street now moves on to the courts, even as the "encampment" is a prop put together, mostly, by Loaves & Fishes, and not a "naturally occurring" [if I can call it that] circumstance. Homeless people are pawns in a concocted situation used to force arrests and spring Mark Merin to engage in courtroom theatre.
Instead of acting maturely, instead of appreciating the needs of the general community during these difficult economic times, the Sacramento homeless-help industry has its issue to stir resentment and prompt past liberal donors on its lists to give yet more.
Instead of finding the very very best property in the city or county for a beta peaceful homeless encampment, instead of continuing to work with the mayor, the Safe Ground movement has chosen the 1960s route of gripe and protest instead of nurturing the hope for real progress and success.
Because the culture of the movement is to always always see no merit in the stance of those that disagree with it and to feel spectacularly aggrieved and to offend the public as much as possible and to perceive themselves as white as snow it should fail quickly.
BTW, my own 'politics' are to the left. I would describe myself as being liberal with a few beliefs that rate as moderate. I've never voted for a Republican in 37 years of voting. Every communist state has been a failure that quickly became an oppressive dictatorship. Truly, 100 million died in the gulags or from the guns or were otherwise crushed by communist regimes in the 20th Century. You'd think that lesson couldn't be quickly forgotten.
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* I say "so-called" since the idea of "safe ground" is supposed to mean sanctioned by the city or county, whereas the parcel at C & 13th is not sanctioned.
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