Class privilege, white privilege, and property ownership (which, of course, is largely a benefit of class privilege and white privilege), always trump the rights of the poorest people to seek fulfilment of their basic needs and the rights of all people to have a commons, where they can gather for any reason, including feeding each other or even growing their own food. Our capitalist economy/culture is the source of the ownership-based class structure that drives this process. Specifically, the imperative to compel all people to consume, consume, consume, so that the wealthy can continuously expand their already huge pile of wealth, at the expense of everyone below them. So, the class structure consists of those few who own the housing industry, the middle class workers and consumers who have enough income to afford to buy housing, and the underclass who are largely too unemployed, underemployed, and indebted, to be able to own much of anything. The racism and classism, that is rampant among the middle class, is not some inherent aspect of human nature. It is the product of fear-mongering and hate-mongering, which is largely instigated by the wealthy class, to keep all the rest of us too divided and too busy hating each other, to ever start pointing our fingers at the wealthy. It should not be surprising that a capitalist society would develop a culture that effectively punishes giving and sharing. Capitalism seeks to coopt and extract profits from ALL human activity. Public parks are seen as strictly a recreation area, for the middle-class home owners, of a neighborhood. If anything interferes with the peaceful recreation of the homeowners, other people might hear about it, and, in the long run, housing values might go down. Also, feeding the homeless is seen as an unwelcome reminder of the existence of poverty (and privilege). So, it is deemed to be disruptive, by the people of the neighborhood. So, giving away food, to poor people, in a public park, is a triple violation of the principles of capitalism, and must be stopped! In this case, there were ..plaints about regular large group feedings at Lake Eola (park) from nearby businesses and residents. They said some people gathering for free meals were creating a nuisance in the area - aggressively panhandling, littering, using bushes as toilets, etc. At the same time, it was pointed out that ...at least 10 organizations regularly serve food to the hungry downtown. (articles.orlandosentinel/2011-06-10/news/os-ed-lake-eola-feedings-061011-20110609_1_feedings-in-downtown-parks-large-group-feedings-free-meals) But, those 10 organizations all serve food on private property. If people who are not property owners, just want to help other people, and they want to (or can only afford to) do it in a free, public space, they are told that they are violating a local ordinance. Thus, laws serve the property owners, who had the clout to get the ordinance passed, and not all people. Just as people have no legal right to vote, they also have no legal right to eat, or to have a place to sleep. That is what passes for morality in this country. Those asking for food or shelter are told get a job!, while those asking for a job are denied, because they are so hungry and homeless (and possibly have a criminal record) that they have trouble presenting themselves as the best candidate. ...Orlando city attorney Mayanne Downs explained that the law was passed to protect all the downtown parks from abusive use or overly exclusive use by one party or community. Never mind that one of the recipients said, They really have been kind of a lifeline.” (washingtonpost/blogs/worldviews/post/food-not-bombs-group-arrested-for-feeding-homeless-violating-orlando-ordinance/2011/06/03/AGufUBIH_blog.html)
Posted on: Sat, 20 Sep 2014 17:54:43 +0000
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