
SHELTERS ARE NO REPLACEMENTS FOR TENTS
Osaka City has proposed 'choices' such as the Osaka castle Park shelter and
the 'Independence Aid' center in exchange for homeless comrades leaving
their tents in both parks.
However, these are not choices.
Osaka castle park Shelter is an institution established three years ago.
Conceived as part of Osaka castle park's 'normalization' i.e. tent eviction,
it was only those pitching tents in the park who became targets (for those
homeless sleeping without tents, in a much harsher situation, they are
contradictorily refused entry to the shelter).
However, the living environment of the shelter is extremely rough,
individual space does not even fill two mats (2.5m by 2.5m), with thin partitions,
privacy is non-existent and the permitted amount of belongings is limited
to several pieces of cardboard. Only a single meal of white rice is provided
as a guaranteed meal for the day. In the end, residents cannot eat without
gathering aluminum cans and people's living conditions decrease markedly
compared to their lives while living in tents.
Once admitted to the shelter, the tent which one had been living in is torn
down by the park administration and for those who inevitably feel that
'this is awful', there are no tents and they are essentially kicked to the
roadside. Despite the obstinate 'persuasions' of the park personnel, the number
of people entering the shelter is only a third of those living in tents.
The number of those who can't stand these 'persuasions' and have had no
choice but to surrender their own autonomy and leave is unknown.
Now, the Osaka city is extending the term of the Osaka castle shelter,
which was planned for closure at the end of last year, and attempting to move
our friends at Utsubo Park inside (already some comrades who could not avoid
entering are inside). However, the shelter's essential problem is that this
extension serves only for a few months. Because of this, there are no
homeless comrades who wish to enter it proactively (Osaka castle Park is the
same).
In the same way, the other 'choice' of the 'Independence Aid Center':
although one can get three meals a day, shared rooms mean no privacy and there
is a six-month limit for residency at the shelter. If one cannot find work
on one's own, there is only a return to the streets.
These institutions are simply 'preparations for eviction'. With no
prospects after entry and no guarantees after leaving, the shelter serves as no
replacement for the tents that our friends have pitched with their own power
(along with relationships of mutual aid).
WORK FOR THE HOMELESS! LIVELIHOOD PROTECTION WITHOUT PREJUDICE!
Unemployment is the largest cause of homelessness. Amid ongoing firings,
restructuring and the expansion of irregular employment, homeless who have
lost their jobs and everything else will keep increasing. As long as the
government does not take responsibility and actuate radical shifts in
unemployment policy, the homeless problem will definitely not be going away. With
the progress of restructuring and de-regulation, in the midst of a situation
of 'recovery without employment', forcing the unemployed to 'help
themselves' will not solve the problem. For the unemployed who include homeless, the
national and regional governments must take responsibility and guarantee
work.
Presently, as a fruit of the homeless and day-workers' struggle against
unemployment, a program called 'Work for Older Workers' has been opened in
Kamagasaki, and within the city, approximately 3,000 homeless are registered
(for those above 55, light work is provided in a rotating system three times
a month). Disregarding the importance of this program, the city has
stricken funds from its 2005 budget and is on the path to 'reduction and
abolition' of these services.
We think the very opposite, and appeal for the expansion of this special
employment programs' scope.
The discriminatory application of 'Livelihood Protection' (Seikatsu Hogo)
is another cause of homelessness. Even now when a homeless person goes to
the welfare office, they are turned away at the entrance because they do not
have an address. Even disregarding the 'Livelihood Protection' clause that
'takes as principle care for a residence', if one applies for the program
from a tent or living on the streets, they are usually admitted to a
hospital or other institution. On one hand, in hospitals and other institutions,
huge expenses are racked up for care and the pay structure funnels this
money from the administration to the administrative bodies behind hospitals and
other institutions.
We are not institutionalists, we demand direct transfers from the tents and
roadsides into apartments under the application of 'Livelihood Protection'.
THE RIGHT TO HOUSING IS THE RIGHT TO LIVE
The problem of Utsubo Park and Osaka castle Park is by no means a problem
only of the tens of people living there. As long as the direction of this
country remains oriented towards the policy-based abandonment of human
beings, people will only lose their jobs and continue to be expelled to the
roadsides. For these people, putting their belongings on the road or in a park,
pitching a tent etc., shouldn't these natural rights to live be recognized?
(Japanese parks were originally after all, places of refuge) If forced
evictions occur, and fences are built, 24-hour guardsman patrols begin, it will
be impossible for homeless to live in these parks (already the construction
of new tents is being obstinately obstructed). This will rob not only those
comrades now living in the park of their right to live, but untold numbers
chased into homelessness in the future.
For us, the right of those who fall unavoidably into unemployment to pitch
tents and live on the roadsides is an existential right guaranteed in the
Constitution's 25th amendment, a right that must be upheld according to the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
WHAT IS THE POINT OF THIS CONSTRUCTION IN THE FIRST PLACE?
'We're doing construction here, so get out!' is the unchanging attitude of
Osaka City but really, for what and for who is this construction done?
When viewing the figures, the 923 million yen budgeted for this year's
Osaka castle Park 'Greening Fair', the 200 million yen management expenses for
the Osaka castle park shelter (mostly this is personnel and building lease
cost), the yearly budget for the 'Independence Aid Center' of 1 billion yen
(the majority of cost being personnel), and comparing these to the figure
of the homeless person gathering aluminum cans, worth approximately one yen
each, we cannot help but feel that something is amiss.
On January 11th, the section chief of Osaka City's Recreation and Tourism
Bureau (a bureau dealing with park management) and his attorney were
arrested in connection with suspicion of holding talks with landscaping companies.
While this corruption and nepotism continues, wealthy Osaka City is
attempting to evict our homeless friends; again we appeal for your anger.
If they succeed in evicting these homeless comrades, the operation will be
judged by the Recreation and Tourism Bureau as a success, and it seems that
things will only escalate (actually, this seems already to be confirmed).
We would like to again ask 'What is this construction for?'
Absconding with the rights and means of our homeless comrades to live,
forcing deaths by the roadside which is most important for Osaka City:
'success' or 'money'? This we would also like to ask.
If the same thing happened to you yourself, and your family, how would you
feel? This too we want to ask.