Year of the Plague 18 – “We Deserve to Survive” Camp Demands Action From the City of Denver
“We Deserve A Right To Survive” – Tent Camp. 33rd and Curtis
“We Deserve to Survive” Camp Demands Action From the City
Press Conference at We Deserve to Survive camp on 33rd and Curtis Saturday May 2nd 2020, 1pm
The Press Conference will also be live on Denver Homeless Out Loud Facebook if you would like to watch from afar
On Wednesday night, April 29th, just ahead of the City’s mass sweep, a group who had been living in tents on the blocks set to be swept moved onto a plot of vacant land on 33rd and Curtis to start an organized safe camp called “We Deserve to Survive.” They have been cleaning the land and keeping a safe socially distanced camp on vacant unused land since then. Residents state, “We are doing our part. We are doing all we can.” They are demanding the City and State do their part to simply allow them to survive as they cannot afford housing.
Residents of the “We Deserve to Survive” camp state, “We are left with the choice between going to mass congregate shelters and catching COVID-19 or staying in a tent and trying to survive. We choose survival.”
The camp was told today by a police officer that they have until Tuesday before they will be kicked off the site with force. The office said the property owner wants them off, but the property owner has not been in direct contact with residents and residents of the camp still do not know if this is truly the bidding of the property owner.
This site has been vacant for countless years, open and accessible to the public, unused for anything. The “We Deserve to Survive” camp is demanding the City buy this land and give it to the people for a safe tent site so we can survive this pandemic and then build housing we can afford. The camp is even willing to rent the space from the land owner at an affordable rate.
If not here than where?
They are demanding the City and State step up to the plate and do their job to protect the residents of Denver by providing housing, or at the very least a plot of land for them to survive.
Since the City never does their job, if you are a land owner this community is also calling out for your space! They will improve on your land and hold down a community-run space for those with no home to live in these health and housing crises.
“We Deserve to Survive” camp is a safe social distancing site. Each of our tents are kept 6 feet apart in line with the CDC guidance. And port-a-potties and hand washing stations will be on site as soon as the camp is more sure of their stability at the site. This camp is a self-governed community. Residents work together to keep things safe and clean and support each other.
Why are they living in tents and not houses? Residents state emphatically, “If we could afford housing we would!” Housing is not being built for low-income and working class people. If you work full time minimum wage (or even above) you cannot afford an apartment in Denver. Signs on their tents say, “I would gladly trade this tent for a house.”
Come to a press conference with the We Deserve to Survive camp at 33rd and Curtis on Saturday May 2nd 2020 at 2pm to hear from residents what they are doing and see the camp in person.
Donations of food, water, brooms, shovels, hand sanitizer, or land are welcome!
Contact:
info@denverhomelessoutloud.org
720-940-5291
View from the Left Bank: Rob Prince's Blog 
Some tent cities are health hazards to everyone in a city and should be torn down. But if the place is being managed well by its tenants and is a threat to no one’s health and well being it should be respected and allowed to remain as long as it is needed.
This article does a great job of bringing the biggest problem that faces the world today: The specter of late stage capitalism. It probably won’t get any better until it gets worse. Ever since humans walked out of the woods about 12,000 years ago and started planting crops, the land grabbers enslaved the rest of the population to produce for them. Now, the situation is worse than ever. The Capitalists are destroying what is left of the world and throwing the excess baggage of humanity out. The amazing thing is that the peasants do not rebel. Maybe that time is coming. We have to create a world in which the governments control the commons, viz., the schools, prisons, infrastructure, hospitals, medical care, etc. The private companies must be owned by the workers themselves. The workers must elect the board of directors and the CEO. If we don’t let the money go to a ruling class, there will be no ruling class. All inheritance over a certain amount must be eliminated. It is not fair for a baby to come into the world with a gold spoon in his mouth because he popped out of a lucky vagina. To hell with kings and the neo-liberal aristocracy. It is time to dig those rusty pitchforks out of those French basements, and polish them up, the Hamptons aren’t that far away.