17 December, 2022
Yesterday the enemy Capitalist system took another firm blow at the very people who are suffering: poor and displaced people!
This enemy “judge” (Rhode Island Superior Court Judge David Cruise) in this case was appointed by Governor McKee and has a long-standing prior relationship with him.
The enemy State of Rhode Island only cares about this homeless encampment because of its very public nature. It’s easy for this judge to sit in a fancy chair in a room decorated with ornate carvings and brass fixtures and be completely removed from the material realities of the oppressed people living in tents at the Capitol building, under bridges and in cardboard boxes just a few blocks down the street.
The enemy State House was chosen as the location for this encampment BECAUSE it makes the government officials uncomfortable, uneasy and a witness to the crimes they are committing against the very same people they purport to represent!
How can they continue putting up a “liberal paradise” front if people (and the media) can clearly SEE people suffering right under their noses? There are over 500 unhoused individuals in the city of Providence, right now!
The enemy governor’s administration, much like the judge himself, sit on top of the hill in a marble building with ornately carved trim, luxurious brass fixtures, and I’m sure, posh offices.
They hate the people and definitely don’t want a consistent gathering of the proletariat and the lumpen directly under their noses, drawing attention to an issue that’s prevalent in all oppressed, exploited communities in Empireland: Housing and who owns it?
Why was nothing said by the enemy judge at the hearing when the enemy Chief Little was caught in a lie in his affidavit? He claimed that a staff member was punctured with a hypodermic needle, while the original incident report clearly specified that the skin was NOT punctured.
Because the Capitalist system protects its own! The pig is an arm of State violence! It’s the enemy pigs job to hit anyone with a baton or bullet that questions this enemy fascist power structure! This is another example of the pigs protecting the interests of Capital.
Why were the enemy bailiffs aggressive to the people who are more vested in this fight than the enemy State?
At times it felt like the enemy “court officers” were trying to escalate the situation over someone not removing a hat, or attempting to stretch during a 4 hour court hearing.
The enemy judge, in his decision, kept referencing the Occupy Minneapolis case, in which Hennepin County won.
That ruling (and several like it, hand in hand with brutal police repression) was part of a systematic crushing of the Occupy movement. It was a direct affront and counter-revolutionary measure on our so-called freedom to assemble and demonstrate.
This is nothing more than the enemy State of Rhode Island crushing a meaningful protest drawing attention to the enemy State’s lack of action, even though they’ve allocated serious amounts of money to “solving homelessness”. $221 MILLION, to be more precise. History shows that this money will never see the issues, let alone solve them.
Furthermore, the enemy State’s approach completely ignores the realities of unhoused individuals. They need more than a bed with arbitrary curfews, being separated from their personal property, their loved ones, their pets, etc. The unhoused, like any human being deserve private, semi-permanent or permanent housing.
They may need help with substance abuse issues, or mental health issues or finding a job—that’s called wrap-around services that address the whole person so they can heal and develop into strong participants in the development of these oppressed and exploited communities!
Hearing the enemy state’s rhetoric today was simply “othering” just as fascists have been doing to our LGBTQ comrades in the recent months… Rhode Island has been systematically and intentionally discriminating against the houseless population for as long as activists have been drawing attention to the issue (in some cases, 30 years or more).
The time has passed for us to politely petition the very enemy system that oppresses us to improve our conditions. We must grab the bull by the horns and ride it until victory! We are our own liberators!
We’ve seen that when an enemy state Senator camps out at the Capitol building to make this very same point, the Capitol Police did NOTHING to stop Senator Mendes and the protesters that were accompanying her.
The existing system exists TO keep us oppressed, or as Karl Marx said, the state “is used as a tool of the ruling class (the bourgeoisie) to oppress the working class (the proletariat).”
In the end, only WE have our backs. Most Rhode Islanders are a couple of paychecks from being in the same situation. The average apartment rent as of October 2022 in Providence is well over $2,000 per month. In fact over 60% of apartment rentals cost over $2,000 per month.
It’s the belief of the United Panther Movement that housing is a human right. It is our belief that lack of adequate, affordable housing is an act of violence by the enemy Capitalist system.
Self defense FROM that system is also an inherent human right. We’re not interested in asking the enemy state for more shelter beds. We advocate solving homelessness, including finding unhoused individuals more permanent, private, safe housing by any means necessary.
Our position on the matter is that as an oppressed community we need to provide housing for these people by occupying abandoned buildings and houses that belong to the LLC boys and banks whose only desire is to maximize the dollar (make money) and pay their investors on Wall Street the money they collect from rent in oppressive communities across the enemy Empire since the enemy state claims it cannot be done. No longer will we accept their excuses, negligence, and willful ignorance!
In the United States there are approximately SIX empty houses for each unhoused individual. Most of these are owned by local governments, banks, and corrupt property managers.
We advocate seizing these properties, making sure they’re livable, and housing people in need. Furthermore, a bed and a roof aren’t the end of the story either. As we previously stated in this statement, the unhoused population requires DIGNITY, and resolutions to the various contributing factors of homelessness.
Job placement, skills training, community-based counseling, drug addiction, clothing, food, and more should rightly come from an honest egalitarian government committed and concerned with making sure everyone lives in dignity with equal political rights and value!
In closing, we strongly condemn the enemy State of Rhode Island and enemy Governor Dan McKee’s opposition to the People’s right to assemble.
This protest is SUPPOSED to make people uncomfortable. Shielding the unhoused from the “regular” people’s eyes is not a way to solve the problem, only a way to keep the liberal facade in place.
We also strongly condemn the enemy state’s inaction, and why we propose a different path forward. We oppose electoral politics for these reasons. The only thing that can save us now is each other.
Dare to Struggle, Dare to Win!
All Power to the People!
Added 12/18
Yesterday the enemy power structure moved to evict the encampment of unhoused protesters. One of them was incarcerated in the enemy prison system, and all of his belongings were destroyed and sent to a landfill.
This is yet another abuse of power, yet more sweeping things under the rug. The entire purpose was to get THIS group of unhoused people out of sight, and out of mind. To make matters worse, the State couldn’t even do its own dirty work. They hired a private contractor to clean up the former encampment.
Tent by tent workers emptied, slashed, and crushed the private property of dozens of unhoused people who have been, according to various official and unofficial sources, sheltered elsewhere, imprisoned, or chased off “state property.”
The People have offered solutions, it’s time to act on them! Pallet shelters, seizing housing, making sure they have winter gear. A bed at a shelter they can lose for something as simple as showing up a few minutes late is NOT a solution! It’s nothing more than a continuing act of aggression by the enemy state.
All We Have to Lose is Our Chains!
New Afrikan Black Panther Party Chairman Shaka Zulu
White Panther Party Minister of Education Rob Quarters
newenglandupm@gmail.com
(857) 256-0917
For more information on this topic, check out our coverage of the Temporary Injunction Ruling
https://hasanshakurcc.wordpress.com/
United Panther Movement: https://www.facebook.com/PantherPower05
New Afrikan Black Panther Party: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100067639352580
White Panther Party: https://www.facebook.com/WhitePantherOfficial
Second Rainbow Coalition: https://www.facebook.com/SecondRainbowCoalition
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