PHOTO/PETER BROWN
OAKLAND, CA — On December 2, a raging fire destroyed the artist live/work space known as “The Ghost Ship” in East Oakland, claiming the precious lives of 36 people.
Many have pointed fingers at individuals they believe responsible for this tragedy. What hasn’t been discussed are the systemic conditions that led to these artists, here and across America, being forced to live and work in similar spaces under similar conditions.
In the San Francisco Bay Area, housing has always been one of the most profitable commodities. If the corporate ruling class can keep the people distracted from the real cause of problems such as housing, they can effectively frame the discussion and blame the victim. The ruling class has tasked the politicians and media to focus on blaming the artists for their own suffering just as they did—and still do— with African Americans, Latinos, women, and members of the LGBT community.
Corporate developers, backed by government, can then clear out those who are not profitable to them and transform these spaces into high-priced living spaces that neither artist nor average working class person can afford. This is why there has been a surge in homeless encampments. This is why, when politicians and other officials speak about this horrific tragedy, they don’t address the reasons behind the housing shortage in the Bay Area, the rapid increase in homeless encampments, or why these encampments and the people living in them can disappear in the middle of the night and no one asks questions.
We the people must unite as the class we are and demand that our government protect our interests, not the interests of the corporate ruling class. Government could;
Refuse to allow developers to buy or develop properties unless current residents living in that area could afford to live there without spending more than 30% of their income on housing.
Use Eminent Domain to seize empty or mismanaged buildings; give them to those without homes.
Insist that existing residents be trained, and employed by any businesses wishing to locate in Oakland.
Provide artists with tools and resources to do their work, as well as livable stipends, as during the 1930s WPA Arts Project.
The people of America can no longer afford to deny that, at the same time that many groupings are oppressed, we are one class of people who must work for a living, and we are under attack. No longer can we afford to be silent and let the corporate media claim the narrative of the Ghost Ship tragedy. The working class people of America must present the question, “Why are people being forced to live in conditions hazardous to their lives?”
We as a class must claim the narrative and present the answer: Corporate greed and its source, the capitalist system, is forcing people to live in intolerable conditions. We must unite as a class and collectively seek the power to force change. Corporations must become publicly owned; it’s the only way to protect us from them.
