Strikes to Occupations

[stinkothepinko]

this idea is rather spontaneous but after this it will also become a part of the sequence of events in my life here forward for the next while... anyone who reads this and is free to use the next couple months or more as they please, must also be living day to day, hand to mouth, or ghetto to gutter. if you have the next couple months free you are probably unemployed or indifferent to your vocation as worker or student.

this is a step by step (though perhaps not linear) analysis of events which will develop from this one.

1. i post this. you will decide to e-mail me. [email protected] or you e-mail your comrades. we discuss the idea, elaborate on it, i meet someone with web design skills, someone to host the site, we expand the Internet dissemination of the idea, and we begin. or you will forget that i ever even wrote this and you're free to never mention it again.

2. Locate all the apartment buildings in my area that meet this criteria: that have more than 20 apartments and have an average rent of less than 1000.. I'll do this by following up classifieds from the news paper or traveling around in my area and locating buildings to talk to tenants.. and I'll probably get creative.

3. Go to the local real estate offices and pretend to be doing a study on the value of apartment buildings in the area. get all the information I can, exhaust all their angles, then document the value buildings to discern or estimate the value of the buildings I have located which meet that criteria.

4. Take the average rent of an apartment, multiply it by the amount of apartments there are. then take the estimated value of the place, add 15% of the total value, divide it by 10, then divide that by 12, this is the total value of the collective conditions as a monthly mortgage. take the total of the second and subtract the total of the first, the difference represents the profit made off of such poor conditions on a 10 year mortgage of the building per month. list the buildings according to the estimated profit, then objectively rank the conditions of each building on a scale determined by me (and anyone else involved). this establishes the the logistics of city wide organization. the places with the greatest profit and the poorest conditions are the ones which can most easily observe the benefit of proceeding organization. they become the headquarters of all organization here after, and where i begin.

5. Find a place to host a meeting. somewhere outside and anywhere central to the buildings involved. organize separate meetings for separate buildings if it is easier. organize reschedule days if it is raining.

6. Compose an informative news letter about how much profit is going to the landlord at locations posted. Include a meeting place and date and phone number where they can reach me or an answering machine 24-7.

7. Post the newsletter in every building lobby and on every door.

8. Return the calls i got the day before. Include anyone interested in being included. and discuss the meeting scheduled in the NEAR future. Repeat everyday.

9. Plan the discussion of the meeting, focusing on promoting 2 key ideas, among whatever creative additions and organizational complexities we desire. the ideas being: that they withhold rent for a month and that they do it as a collective rent strike with other tenants in their building and other buildings. and that the rent they withhold for at least the first month be collectively invested in an alternative and existing apartment building, of greater value with less cost and a qualitative improvement to conditions, in the form of as examples, building controlled wireless networks, computer servers, closed circuit broadcasting, full global broadcasting, media technology, libraries, community center, alternative energies, etc...

10. Find a lawyer and discuss the endeavor find out the ins and outs.

[RNK]

The rest of stinko's post...:

11. Set up a headquarters out of one of the interested and willing tenants apartments or my own apartment. set up a phone line separate from the number that the tenants use.

12. Organize an expansion of the initial areas, by expanding the propagation of the organization throughout the community. at every school. at all other apartment buildings. at every media outlet. shopping center. factories. food banks. etc.

13. Hold a mass conference of everyone interested or involved and publish a journal on the contacts of all buildings involved. and a personal phone directory for anyone interested in being listed or organizationally involved. Hold it at night, as a party, with drinks (byob) and music and at a building which will allow it, or to which the occupant is indifferent to the consequences of their actions. Invite supporters and prepare for repression.

14. Organize and prepare people with digital cameras and the numbers of media centers who would be interested in covering the following events.. if the police show up, make sure to refuse to shut down the party, by mandate of the landlord, police, or compliant tenantment, and resist it to any non-violent end. make sure to get as much coverage as we can, on digital cameras, but also video and audio if available. and after the events make sure to get statements from witnesses.

15. Host another collective conference to discuss the risks and goals of those involved. Emphasize that nothing is guaranteed and they may be facing homelessness. Discuss the large scale organization and the course of action from here forward.

16. Hold a press conference and publish a statement pertaining to the demands and organization, the conditions faced by the buildings involved, statements from the people involved, of the events leading up to this point, and distribute it to anyone in the media who will print it, with or without spin with the website address. publish it through existing network of tenants and supporters. Include a statement about looking for donations for a down paying on an existing and available housing unit, and that there will be a rent strike, effective immediately which resist eviction for as long as we possibly can, through mass occupation, barricades, and any non-violent means available. until they have raised the down payment by withholding rent or through donations to be paid back within the first year.

17. Begin collecting formal donations from community members by address, for collection door to door at a later date, or from businesses under the same pretense Make sure to cross reference phone numbers, and return calls to donators to make sure they are real. remaining skeptical about large donations.

18. Schedule meetings with donators, to estimate the validity of their formal donations, then add it to the funds raised.

19. Begin organizing regionally. Expand if possible to other communities in the area. Organize the more complex issues, like how people can get out of being a tenant of the new building to how it can borrow against it's mortgage to afford make down payments for other buildings. Begin organizing in the event of occupations.

all of the above needs to be expanded on, analyzed, and refreshed with more practical application from this point forward.

I am interested in starting this up anywhere in north America i have census reports on the areas with the largest amount of apartment dwelling populations and i am flexible to where i begin. I have the resources of perfect credit and free time at my disposal, and i am indifferent to bankruptcy at this point in my life. in order to make this idea practical, in terms of scale and expedience, the beginning portion of organization would be overwhelming for any less than 4 people, or 3 people minus myself.

My own logistical focus would be New York, Chicago, Seattle, and San Francisco, I'm not an American citizen, so this would make me an illegal alien, and vulnerable to deportation, but if i can get across once, I'll be back. this however could complicate my involvement in the organization and i would request a behind the scenes role in the organization itself. fully willing to participate in occupations and all matters of organization, except public relations...

I am a Marxist and i do think that this is one of many things important to the organization and consciousness of the proletariat, but i am not posting this as the idealistic chant of revolution, i can accept it as working the field from which revolution will be cultivated.. The workers cannot strike for fear of losing their homes.. so, in my opinion, the workers must secure their homes and the communal conditions which can spread class consciousness.. In the end, anyone who rents an apartment ANYWHERE is getting robbed by capitalists.. and those in the worst conditions have probably already been evicted and already have disputes about their rental. I would be looking for working class involvement, to legitimate the actions, but i am not willing to exclude the unemployed from emancipation, if they pay their rent where they are, they can pay a reduced cost of their share of a mortgage somewhere else.

legal details will get lengthy, on how to organize the mortgage, and on how to organize the tenantment, but i will be looking for all the pro-bono assistance i can find. I am limited in my skills at designing websites and even things as simple as writing, but i work so little in order to ensure a life free to accomplish things like the above mentioned.. please don't let the exact details obscure the general theme of this message. I am very interested in meeting anyone who is a capable writer, website designer, theoretician or has the free time to accomplish the above mentioned goals without compromising themselves for single issue aims. I'm interested in meeting ANYONE who thinks they can expand on this idea, apply it in their own area, or will travel to assist me or others elsewhere.

the immediate emphasis would be on creating a simple website, getting it hosted, and finding people interested in helping with this idea. if i can find 100 renters interested in the first month to couple months after moving i would feel i met immediate organizing goal. I don't think this number is exaggerated and if anything i feel it is low-balling it. I would like to visit 10 buildings a day which meet the criteria, and organize meetings for the collective occupancy of 2500 apartments in the first month, also low balling it.. the first low ball figure is 4% of the total population reached (second low ball figure).

as i said, i have about 5000 in credit available to me, and i am indifferent to bankruptcy. where ever i move, I'm willing to clean toilets or wash dishes to pay my way, but i will be looking to establish an immediate headquarters for the organization. either out of the credit i have or through becoming someones roommate. for years i never bought anything on credit and this of all ideas is the one i am most optimistic about investing in, the one i feel at least immediately is most promising. before you approach me with other ideas for the 5000, unless they are REALLY good, save them.

please excuse the spelling and grammar errors and try your best to make sense of whatever is seemingly incoherent or e-mail me question.

e-mail me at [email protected] or add me to msn by the same contact..

i probably won't be debating the idea for all those who would post a thread looking to discount it.