PHOTO: Kari Napoli
OAKLAND, CA — As U.S. deaths from COVID19 escalate past 107,000 and unemployment climbs above 43 million, people are asking why our government is not doing more to solve this life or death health and economic crisis.
Some low- and middle-income Californians say canceling rent is the only solution to prevent a tidal wave of evictions and homelessness and a corresponding explosion in the spread of the corona virus. They refuse to choose between food and rent!
Oakland housing advocates got our city government to pass an eviction moratorium through August 31, but what happens after that? The Oakland Rent Strike Committee is fighting for a Universal Right to Housing and Rent Forgiveness. Over 250 renters are withholding over $251,000 a month from landlords.
On May 22, Oakland rent strikers and supporters held a car caravan to spotlight corporate landlords who contribute to huge rent hikes, and #CancelRent and #MakethemPay. Corporate landlords are sitting on over $470 billion in government handouts, including COVID stimulus funds, and billions in profits while their tenants struggle to survive
A lively caravan of over 60 cars drove through Oakland, stopping at 10 of the 20 Mosser Capital corporate-owned apartments and Oaklanders cheered us on, thanked us, gave thumbs and fists up. “So many people have been thinking about this problem but haven’t yet been able to organize to fight it,” said Merika Reagan, rent striking since April and a member of Moms4Housing and Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE).
“It was like, ‘Yes! We need something like this here!” Merika noted “It was very powerful, supportive and loving.” She noticed a different response in the wealthy San Francisco neighborhood where the CEO of Mosser Capital lives. People gave steely stares and one person even yelled “Go back to Oakland!” at Merika and her 8-year-old niece. When Merika’s niece asked, “Why are they so mad?” Merika told her, “This is where the landlords live and they want all our money and don’t care if it keeps us poor.”
In this election year, it’s crucial that we build our movements with a transformative vision that prioritizes people’s needs over corporate profits. We have the technology to produce abundance. We need to work with our youth, who are disproportionately facing housing and food insecurity, debt burdens, and police violence. We reject proposals for misery based on lies about scarcity. The movement for basic needs is on a collision course with the entire capitalist system.
