California Governor Gavin Newsom
Housing Crisis: Capitalism’s Only Solution is Punishment
LOS ANGELES (USA), August 19— Gloria Johnson was involuntarily homeless in Grants Pass, Oregon. No shelter was available to her. She was prohibited from sleeping in her van. She faced citations for “camping in a park.” Johnson and others sued the city, claiming “cruel and unusual punishment.”
In June, the US Supreme Court used the Johnson case to overturn a previous ruling. That ruling had protected people from fines and incarceration for sleeping outside if no alternative shelter was available.
Just a month later, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed an Executive Order directing state agencies to clear homeless encampments from public property. Now unrestrained by Constitutional protections, Newsom flashes a wide grin from beneath a Los Angeles highway overpass. He declares that the time for excuses has passed while shoveling personal belongings into bins.
Newsom’s order cannot legally compel local governments to act. But failure to comply will result in the withholding of city and county funds in next year’s budget, which the Governor controls.
“We’re not going to continue to make investments in communities that aren’t willing to do their part,” Newsom explained. He thereby discarded the committed work of organizations on the ground. These have implemented dignified and durable solutions for at least some individuals among California’s homeless population.
Capitalist Profit System Causes Homelessness
Newsom’s orchestrated outing communicated nothing more than the cruelty of crony capitalism. This system rewards wealthy politicians who enact violence against vulnerable communities in order to buoy their political status.
While Newsom stomps around the encampment, he also strikes out at news outlets that don’t report to his satisfaction on his support for a wealth tax in California. He preaches “tough love” while enriching himself on real estate and restaurant ventures. He demands a willingness to act while cashing checks from billionaire financiers who create the very conditions he pretends to clean up.
This is the twisted dynamic sitting at the core of capitalism: protect the profiteers, popularize their puppets, and punish the powerless.
Insatiable greed drives capitalist expansion. It necessarily demands the removal of “undesirables.” Perhaps their unsightly presence perturbs the peace of the so-called civilized, as in Los Angeles. Or perhaps the very presence of an “undesirable” civilization threatens the colonial interests of fascist superpowers, as in Palestine.
In both instances, we see victims of capitalist violence demonized for the inconvenience of their existence. And always with a racist edge.
Dehumanizing narratives justify the necessity of their removal. These are spun and disseminated to the masses. Tried and true tales of addiction, terrorism, and “savagery” create the permission structure for the capitalist class’s ceaseless conquest of new territory.
These patterns of oppression are familiar to communists. But they elude much of a general public still trapped in the capitalist contortions of reality.
In Los Angeles, people cry out for real solutions to the homeless crisis, unaware that this public display of punishment serves the interests of the ruling class. After all, failure to participate in their system has clearly defined and visible consequences: exile and exploitation.
The Only Real Solution to Housing Crisis: Intifada, Revolution
Social programs that offer community support instead of harsh punishment pose the risk of unburdening us from the boots of the Bourgeoisie. Therefore they will never be implemented by the Bourgeoisie’s representatives in government.
We must never be allowed to think that there is an alternative to wage slavery. Rather, the monied interests will criminalize the uncouth and profit off their imprisonment before any form of deviance from the system can be allowed.
Capitalism has only one solution for its many victims: punishment. Its mandate for relentless growth requires endless victimization of those who find themselves in the way of capitalist expansion.
Acknowledging the humanity of victims would require just negotiations and fair compensation. It might even halt capitalist conquest. None of which are acceptable in the minds of colonizers and exploiters. Domination and displacement are all that capitalism can offer.
And it will continue to levy this punishment until the only true solution can be achieved: “intifada, revolution!”