The topic for City Daily Photo Theme Day this month is Shelter, chosen by Linda Ball and Forrest Preece who’ve run the Austin, Texas Daily Photo blog since 2007.
Leaving aside my St Petersburg v Manchester twin city comparisons for a day (although I saw no homeless people in St Petersburg I imagine they exist?), here we have the Ark. A month ago it was beautifully constructed shelter under the Mancunian wave made of upcycled pallets and tarpaulin, with a loo, donated furniture, a generator, a television and spaces for many homeless people. Lots of donations and support from the caring members of the public too.
A civilised city council / country would of course, be spending money on ensuring its most vulnerable citizens were given basic human rights to shelter and water, and the police force we fund would be doing its utmost to protect those left on the streets from harassment.
But of course this is England- where Manchester city council, instead of spending money on solutions, squanders hundreds of thousands on court cases to make it illegal to erect a tent in the city centre, and aided and abetted by the lovely "boys in blue" destroy such camps around the city. Homeless charity Crisis, describe these actions as disturbing.
Videos of the defending solicitor being interviewed here, social cleansing in action here, and here and the End Manchester Homeless YouTube Channel
The Ark remains here for now, (please sign this petition) but its occupants are threatened with prison for being homeless. Manchester City Council, Biffas and Greater Manchester Police, you are a disgrace! ("but we're only following orders"...)
I wondered if someone would take this angle on the theme. A thought provoking choice, Chrissy.
ReplyDeleteIt really is a problem that shouldn't exist in 1st world countries Chrissy, so shocking to see.
ReplyDeleteHere in Sydney there are home;ess people, too. But unles they do a big shout-out, and impede public movement, they do not "seem": to be moved on. For example, there is a row of sleeping bags, along the side-steps to the Supreme Court building. There are homeless "nests" in the walkways to St James Station that seem to be there evert time i GO THAT WAY. Not that Sydney is better than Manchester, but perhaps feel les provoked.
ReplyDeleteVery sad state of affairs. Thank you for writing about it, Chrissy!
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