local government

An essay written in 2018 and updated in 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York and prior to the June 2020 uprisings. Explores the death of a woman named 'Kathy' through the eyes of a frontline social worker. Originally published on the website of Hard Crackers.

The state and capital always attack the freedom of the social base, steal its labor and resources. In recent years we have experienced one of the most violent attacks through the massive impoverishment of people who are already oppressed and exploited.
On the other hand, there has been widespread social resistance and solidarity. People have created a variety of self-organized spaces such as housing infrastructure, social medical centers, community kitchens, open parks and public spaces which are just some of the main examples.

An image from a boycott campaign in Eugene, Oregon

There is an ever-growing stream of media commentary on the Grenfell fire, increasing daily as the public enquiry unfolds. There are some elements in the media with the goal of obscuring or excusing the plain facts as part of a pre-emptive defence manoeuvre to protect those most implicated in what caused the fire and the 72 deaths. That they feel the need to use such distortions to defend the Grenfell landlords and those who ordered and oversaw the Grenfell refurbishment that fitted the lethal cladding only increases the suggestion of a general doubt on all sides about their innocence.