PHOTO/MANUEL TORRES
Editor’s note: This is an update of our story in the May, 2017 People’s Tribune about the flea market in Texas that rents storage units without electricity, heat, running water or bathrooms to families in need of cheap rent. All of the residents are trying to survive one day at a time. Some are only a step away from homelessness.
DONNA, TX —Following the issuance of an eviction notice by the city, the tenants at Fiesta Flea Market living in storage units made plans to move out. The media was called after numerous accounts of harassment by the management and threats that families either pay the last month’s rent or the police would be called. The tenants called the media. Through the coordination of several activists, a local Baptist church from Weslaco provided transportation and gas. Also, an adult day care center provided trucks and vans. The County passed out vouchers for motel stays for eligible families and plans to take people to shelters.
Kindness was shared by everyone in the spirit of lending a hand to human beings without regard to nationality or legality.
These workers and their families, like so many who are being cast aside by the capitalist system when their labor is no longer needed, are fighting for their survival. They are pointing to a vision of a different society that provides what people need, independent of the present economic system. Si Se Puede! (Yes we can!)
This is my idea of community and democracy! Everybody pitches in when people need help.