Personal Blog: 16-1-16
#NoMoreDeathsOnOurStreets
Late last night, I was walking along on the phone with a friend who was worried about a homeless comrade who’s been having suicidal thoughts. Talking and walking, I passed a bloke dead or dying on the pavement. A man and a woman had stopped to help him. She was calling an ambulance – he was down on the ground with this bloke. I waited around til an ambulance arrived.
The most horrific, surreal aspect of it all was how commonplace scenes like this have become and how numb to it we all seem.
I couldn’t sleep last night, it was fkn freezing, even though I was indoors.
This morning in my prolefeed, there is a story about a homeless man dying in a car park in Swindon; a homeless soldier dying in Salford after being evicted from a squat he was sharing with 12 other ex-servicemen; and the news that homeless people are being used for target practice by a gang with crossbows in Cambridge. Tonight I’m off to try to help yet another friend who is suffering depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts.
Horrible things happen on the streets. Homeless people are extremely vulnerable human beings. Homeless people are not the problem. The way we think about the problem is the problem. The narrow parameters of debate around the problem are the problem.
WHAT HOPE?
In slightly brighter news, there has been a terrific response to Love Activists Brighton’s petition mission on the streets over the last few days. Hundreds of people have signed the petition to persuade the council to support the SOLUTION BASED PROPOSALS TO END HOMELESSNESS.
I filmed this interview with them:
Ann Narkeh Media 