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There's a new Tent City documentary called A Place of Their Own. Trailer:
Two screenings are scheduled:
*1* Saturday, July 26, 3:00 PM at the Lakewood Public Library (301 Lexington Ave).
*2* Tuesday, July 29, 6:00 PM at Monmouth University (Bey Hall, Young Auditorium; 400 Cedar Ave, West Long Branch, NJ).
I'm sure no disrespect was intended in scheduling on Saturday. If you can't make it to one screening, hope you can make it to the other. Follow on Facebook or Twitter for updates.
No one is claiming that situations are identical, only that there are some horrifying ironic parallels. Bums were some of the first people in the Arbeit Macht Frei camps, which wouldn't be profitable today. The "final solution" today is jailing the homeless. In spite of already having the highest incarceration rate in the world, USA's Welfare/Prison State is still growing...
I've recently demonstrated this with a personal example...
It has been the policy of our Facebook Page to link to all significant articles about our Tent City, even ones I disagree with. If you scroll through our Page's timeline, which goes back to 2007, you'll find countless links to articles and blog posts from many different political opinions, all posted by me, including commie ones that make me vomit...
I have passed over a few articles because they were racist, and in my opinion not very significant, coming from a loonie fringe. If you want to see a real racist article, have a look at this vile piece of garbage, which I didn't link to directly, and on which I commented:
"... I completely disagree with this article. Tent City residents and its supporters have come from every ethnic group, including many persons of Jewish heritage. Tent City was destroyed by government - there's nothing that statists hate more than to see poor people helping themselves. Power corrupts all, no matter if Norwegian or Italian or Japanese or Orthodox Jew ..."
The AFP article used collectivist language I don't agree with, but it did not cross the line. To clarify the language issue, I've made and posted this image, which expresses the consensus among Tent City supporters:
"All comments to this page containing racial / religious slurs will be deleted, and people who've used such language temporarily banned from commenting on this page. Please refrain from referring to Lakewood's corrupt political interests in question as 'the Jews'. Obviously not all Jewish people are involved in this, and not all Orthodox / Haredi / Hasidic / Frum persons. Please refer to them as 'Vaad supporters' instead. If you see someone using incorrect terminology elsewhere, please ask them to correct it."
We have dozens of very specific examples. For starters, google Hershel Herskowitz. Yes, arguments from Vaad critics are still very disorganized. I need to do a better job organizing them. But I have a lot on my plate, and my mental & physical health limits how much time I can spend on these very stressful ventures. Rome wasn't built in a day...
During my 16 month involvement with Tent City, I've ran a largely "positive campaign" that focused on Tent City's benefits, and only mentioned the Vaad-Scoop-Government Fascio when it touched upon Tent City: arresting Steve Brigham, making it impossible for us to set up structure and evict the bad apples, harassing donors, evicting, etc, etc, etc.
I am now renting a room in Brick Township for a little R&R between stints in jail, and by R&R I mean Ruby on Rails (or whatever other Web technologies paying clients prefer). I refuse all government hand-outs and pull my economic weight, which means I can't be an activist 24/7/365... (If you need a part-time / short-term programmer / DBA / Web-guy / etc, please send me a private message or e-mail alex@tentcitynj.org)
When I'm more caught up financially, my priorities will cycle back to my activist projects, only a fraction of which deal with anti-homeless laws or with Lakewood. I would like to start / contribute to a libertarian blog based in Lakewood, in homage to FSP blogs like FreeKeene.com. In a decade or two, Ayn Rand will be required reading at the BMG!
You know the old joke: two Tenters see a bear - one starts running - "you can't outrun a bear!" - "I just have to outrun you!"
Likewise, this isn't about who has a perfect claim to this land - as far as I know nobody does. It's about whose claim is less bad.
No, but I was able to smuggle in a satellite dish and a rack of servers in the fake fat-suit I'm always wearing.
Seriously, I've spent my time reading and sleeping. Best vacation I've ever had! I was on a hunger strike until they let me out, no bail, no fees. Still don't know what jail food tastes like. Six days is nothing! My body was consuming its own brisket, and there's enough there to last for months. Then I broke my fast, back at Lakewood Town Square. Then - reloaded at the buffet!
I took pity on the poor jail guards that time, only a handful of them filed injury reports for hurting their backs carrying my limp body (non-violent non-cooperation). Next time perhaps I, being a political prisoner, may refuse to wear a prison uniform - naked strike, woo! But that's nothing compared to my recent advances in Libertarian Opera singing...
Alex:
I see this must be spelled out in a slow, clear and deliberate fashion.
We live in United States which is a democracy. That is a government of the people, for the people. The governing body of Lakewood is a democratic one as well. That is, we the people of Lakewood chose officials to run our municipal concerns through a democratic election. If in the event officials do not perform according to the residents interests, they can be ousted in a democratic way. Hence, municipal representatives act in accordance to the public opinion.
The people of Lakewood own a piece of property on Cedarbridge Ave. the reason regardless. We the people of Lakewood enacted a law making it illegal to squat on our communal property, even if you're a resident of Lakewood. The law was made by the people, for the people. So for you to squat on our property is a crime according to the law enacted through democratic means.
For years you've (tc) been squatting on our property. However, our elected officials chose to turn a blind eye in favor of larger concerns. After years your encampment grew larger and closer to residents living in legal residents. These residents complained to their elected officials that these people are violating the law and quality of life. The officials in turn sought a legal and safe way to eradicate this encampment. The government- the elected officials of the people of Lakewood went to act in the favor of the public through aforementioned legal and safe ways. A true tale of democracy in suburban America.
Our government is not trying to hurt anyone. They are just representing the the of Lakewood. The community's concern is their concern. The public has spoken, the public has acted, democracy prevailed.
This is very clear.
In addition, your analogies of slavery is completely misguided. In Cuba, North Korea and Soviet Union all people had to work according to the wishes of a authoritarian ruling body that was placed there undemocraticly. That is slavery. However, The United States of America is a democratic country. We have a governing body by the people, for the people. Slavery does not exist, I can work for myself and keep the money I earned. I can smoke, read, learn or do whatever else I want to do provided it's legal. Or I can chose to be vagrant begging for alms. Ah! The beauty of democracy! The land of the free and the home of the brave! God bless America!