Thread by @NOlympicsLA

We’re at @LACANetwork for the launch of “Urban Warfare: Housing Under the Empire of Finance,” by Raquel Rolnik. She was previously the U.N. Special Rapporteur on adequate housing and wrote a report on the effects of mega-events like the Olympics on housing.

@LACANetwork @ChallengeIneq Raquel Rolnik: “99% of the violations of the U.N.’s human right to adequate housing are around evictions and displacement, around the world.”

@LACANetwork @ChallengeIneq On the false logic and promise of development under financialization:

“Displacement has been seen as a problem of ‘underdeveloped countries.’ This is the language that is used, and then the solution that is propose is: give these countries money to solve the problem.”

@LACANetwork @ChallengeIneq “On my visit to the U.S., I learned the word ‘affordable’ for the first time, which we should cross out of the lexicon of housing justice, because it’s bullshit. We should be talking about social housing.”

@LACANetwork @ChallengeIneq “In Chicago, the public housing that was demolished was not the housing in food deserts. It was the housing on high-valued land, that could extract high rent for investors and developers.”

@LACANetwork @ChallengeIneq "I think we should repeat, over and over again, that one of the worst lies that neoliberalism tells us is: let's get the state out of housing and let the market do its job."

@LACANetwork @ChallengeIneq "Everybody got into homeownership as a goal, not because it's the best option but because under neoliberalism and financialization and privatization, it's become the ONLY option."

@LACANetwork @ChallengeIneq "This is part of the machinery of enforcing one way of organizing space and life, based on contracts and transactions. It's an accomplishment of colonialization, and it makes this quantified and financialized way of organizing life the ONLY way, so all others become stigmatized."

@LACANetwork @ChallengeIneq "The state is not bankrupt and incapable of providing adequate housing. There is a lot of money for these operations. It's just going to the wrong places. It's all feeding into a cloud of speculative capital that floats over the entire planet."

@LACANetwork @ChallengeIneq "There is no model where public funds are not a major part of the operation. We are talking about a massive transfer of public funds - collective funds, our funds - to private investors. For example, what is 'tax exempt?'"

*cough cough* #HomesNotHotels

latimes.com/local/lanow/la…

@LACANetwork @ChallengeIneq Ending on an uplifting note...

"I have seen more and more organizing happen around housing and displacement. A new wave and new movement is being created. It's very important and it's growing bigger, everywhere around the world."

@LACANetwork @ChallengeIneq "We have several movements that can bring us hope. If tenant unions become an epidemic and rent strikes start happening more and more, if more people start squatting on empty land and in vacant buildings - this change will come."