Fear and Loathing in Berkeley

FEAR & LOATHING IN BERKELEY

Recent events in Berkeley highlight the mean spirit of governments national and local. Just last week Caltrans workers aided by the California Highway Patrol routed a homeless camp near Gilman Street and I-80. Instead of an ongoing effort to support homeless encampments with restroom facilities, garbage bins and other resources – they come in and sweep everyone and the problem itself under the rug. What does it say about our government except that it does not solve problems but actually creates them and is always crying no financial resources when we see evidence of government largesse in so many places. One place the federal government has recently had resources was to put up a iron fence around public property-the US Post Office in downtown Berkeley – mainly in order to rid an encampment there which was protesting the sale of the Post office building and the government give away to private interests of public assets. Now we know the encampment was a legitimate protest and we know that in the decades of the post office building there has never been an iron fence like this to keep the public out of it’s own property. But these are different times.

We know the Pentagon budget and all the money that has gone missing is enough to permanently solve the homeless problem and many others in this country. We know that the state has money to build prisons and the federal government throws billions of dollars to local police agencies so that they are highly militarized to oppress the people. We know these things and we know the government has the money.

However, where are the government’s priorities: in spending unlimited resources to drive the homeless from place to place and oppress them? It is time to ask the question: If our governments have so much money why didn’t they have the resources to inspect balconies like the one in downtown Berkeley’s Library Garden’s complex where six Irish students died last year when a balcony collapsed. Why didn’t the city government do a better job of inspecting this and why is it not being held liable as being complicit in allowing the problem to exist because of lack of a good enforcement program. They have the money to oppress the homeless, they have the money to build iron fences, they have the money to conduct DUI traffic road blocks, they have the money to support developers. The ugly group of neo-con pro-developer democrats who run Berkeley city Hall need to be held to account for their failures. As the wording in front of the people’s memorial to the dead students says: Avenge us.