by Martin T. Wirth
The term "homeless" is a misnomer and the cause would be helped if we would all stop using it. There are 18-million vacant homes in the USA. Everyone has a home. People struggling to survive without shelter are not "homeless." They are refugees.
When your job or career has been stolen or destroyed, and they send armed men to evict you from your home, you are being subjected to an act of war. This is a civil war and the classes of people being attacked have yet to respond because we have unconsciously continued to use the language of the forces that are attacking us. This language is designed to obfuscate the facts of the war and protect its aggressors.
There are no homeless people. There are only refugees in the widening civil war being waged by wealthy ruling classes. Under international law, refugees are officially defined as people who have been displaced by armed force not only from their home but also from their country of origin. The USA is bounded by oceans with Canada on the north and Mexico on the south. Unlike smaller countries, most US citizens displaced by the ongoing civil war against them haven't the means to escape across the oceans or into Canada or Mexico. So, the official term for them is Internally Displaced Persons. Most Americans have no idea of the difference in these two types of refugees, so the persons you are presently calling "homeless" are most accurately described simply as refugees or internal refugees.
The United Nations has established a documented set of Guiding Principles of Internal Displacement. Principle 3 states:
3.1 National authorities have the primary duty and responsibility to provide protection and humanitarian assistance to internally displaced persons within their jurisdiction.
3.2 Internally displaced persons have the right to request and to receive protection and humanitarian assistance from these authorities. They shall not be persecuted or punished for making such a request.
Some of us are experienced with sheltering women and children. The government has consistently and egregiously defied Principle 4.2:
4.2 Certain internally displaced persons, such as children, especially unaccompanied minors, expectant mothers, mothers with young children, female heads of household, persons with disabilities and elderly persons, shall be entitled to protection and assistance required by their condition and to treatment which takes into account their special needs.
The so-called urban camping ban in Denver is a direct violation of Principle 12.3:
12.3 Internally displaced persons shall be protected from discriminatory arrest and detention as a result of their displacement.
Denver's practice of harassment and stealing property from refugees proves a very embarrassing fact: Expecting market forces or big business clubs to provide for refugees is the height of ludicrous thinking. Once everything has been stolen from a person, they are no longer allowed to live. The flouting of principle 12.3 was codified into an ordinance at the behest of the Downtown Denver Partnership and its influential business executives.
Such organizations and governmental bodies influenced by them go far beyond being unethical. American business people have chosen to be perpetrators of war crimes against their impoverished fellow citizens. Compare their conduct to the idea embodied in Principle 18:
18.1 All internally displaced persons have the right to an adequate standard of living.
18.2 At the minimum, regardless of the circumstances, and without discrimination, competent authorities shall provide internally displaced persons with and ensure safe access to:
(a) Essential food and potable water;
(b) Basic shelter and housing;
(c) Appropriate clothing; and
(d) Essential medical services and sanitation.
The ruling classes can't even do these few simple things for their fellow citizens. How can any rational person deem them competent much less entitled to rule over us with the tools of state violence and aggression at their disposal?
When your job or career has been stolen or destroyed, and they send armed men to evict you from your home, you are being subjected to an act of war. This is a civil war and the classes of people being attacked have yet to respond because we have unconsciously continued to use the language of the forces that are attacking us. This language is designed to obfuscate the facts of the war and protect its aggressors.
There are no homeless people. There are only refugees in the widening civil war being waged by wealthy ruling classes. Under international law, refugees are officially defined as people who have been displaced by armed force not only from their home but also from their country of origin. The USA is bounded by oceans with Canada on the north and Mexico on the south. Unlike smaller countries, most US citizens displaced by the ongoing civil war against them haven't the means to escape across the oceans or into Canada or Mexico. So, the official term for them is Internally Displaced Persons. Most Americans have no idea of the difference in these two types of refugees, so the persons you are presently calling "homeless" are most accurately described simply as refugees or internal refugees.
The United Nations has established a documented set of Guiding Principles of Internal Displacement. Principle 3 states:
3.1 National authorities have the primary duty and responsibility to provide protection and humanitarian assistance to internally displaced persons within their jurisdiction.
3.2 Internally displaced persons have the right to request and to receive protection and humanitarian assistance from these authorities. They shall not be persecuted or punished for making such a request.
Some of us are experienced with sheltering women and children. The government has consistently and egregiously defied Principle 4.2:
4.2 Certain internally displaced persons, such as children, especially unaccompanied minors, expectant mothers, mothers with young children, female heads of household, persons with disabilities and elderly persons, shall be entitled to protection and assistance required by their condition and to treatment which takes into account their special needs.
The so-called urban camping ban in Denver is a direct violation of Principle 12.3:
12.3 Internally displaced persons shall be protected from discriminatory arrest and detention as a result of their displacement.
Denver's practice of harassment and stealing property from refugees proves a very embarrassing fact: Expecting market forces or big business clubs to provide for refugees is the height of ludicrous thinking. Once everything has been stolen from a person, they are no longer allowed to live. The flouting of principle 12.3 was codified into an ordinance at the behest of the Downtown Denver Partnership and its influential business executives.
Such organizations and governmental bodies influenced by them go far beyond being unethical. American business people have chosen to be perpetrators of war crimes against their impoverished fellow citizens. Compare their conduct to the idea embodied in Principle 18:
18.1 All internally displaced persons have the right to an adequate standard of living.
18.2 At the minimum, regardless of the circumstances, and without discrimination, competent authorities shall provide internally displaced persons with and ensure safe access to:
(a) Essential food and potable water;
(b) Basic shelter and housing;
(c) Appropriate clothing; and
(d) Essential medical services and sanitation.
The ruling classes can't even do these few simple things for their fellow citizens. How can any rational person deem them competent much less entitled to rule over us with the tools of state violence and aggression at their disposal?
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