End of the Year 2023
Dear Loving ComeUnity and Family,
Our hearts are filled with grief beyond mere colonizer words, making it hard to focus on anything else but resistance for Palestine (which we all are doing Errryday). But as poor/ houseless/indigenous peoples we realize it’s even more important than ever to continue fighting for Mama Earth’s decommodification, liberation, protection, and the end of Sweeps, evictions, removal, poLice terror and politricks – as well as to clearly see the terrifying connections that we as houseless folks on this occupied land have to our relatives from Gaza. Please support us if you can and keep being on the streets if you are. Liberation is not one thing, it’s everything all at once, all the time… Until Palestine is Free and so are we…
POOR Magazine Family
From Homefulness to Gaza – our statement
We houseless/landless, criminalized, swept, incarcerated, No-income, Black/Brown/Indigenous & Disabled youth, adults and elders at Homefulness / POOR Magazine and DeeColonize Academy are together with ALL victims of Wars ON the POOR. From Occupied Palestine to Puerto Rico, from Kashmir to West Papua, from South Africa to Haiti to Hawai’i…From Tongva to Huichin…
We are together with indigenous Palestinian people who have been incarcerated on their own homelands since the Occupation of Israel. We also stand with ALL victims of wars all over Mama Earth from Kashmir to Haiti, from West Papua to the West Berkeley Shellmounds, caused by colonial terror, greed, extraction and settler colonial occupation, even the settlers themselves, as many of us, on this part of stolen and Occupied Turtle Island are from those CONfusing and terrifying gray areas.
We are against all wars and hope and pray for peace but know, sadly, that peace is rarely had if there is more of Mama Earth or her resources to steal.
We pray as well for the four-leggeds, winged ones, plant and tree relatives who also are destroyed, killed, and traumatized by these colonial wars. Leaving us all with less shade, less clean air, water, and life to breathe, drink, eat and survive another day. And finally we pray for Mama Earth and Mama Ocean who us houseless and poor people live closest too and are impacted first and worst by, and without whom there would be no us….
Ometeotl, Ase, Semign Cacona Guari, A’hooooooo
the POOR Magazine, Homefulness & DeeColonize Academy Family
OUR 2023 SUMMARY
2023 has been a beautiful, painful, and herstoric year at POOR Magazine. In the midst of the year’s many traumas, we have continued doing what we always have: fighting to dismantle the lies of krapitalism and wealth-hoarding from the bottom up and responding to the needs of poverty skolaz across Pachamama. Here are some 2023 highlights:
We moved our 15th resident into HOMEFULNESS #1
DEECOLONIZE ACADEMY is in our 10th year with graduates becoming teachers
12th year of SLIDING SCALE CAFÉ, a healthy food, groceries, diapers & media, support radical redistribution (mutual aid) for deep East Oakland every Thursday
Continued in-person People Skool for East Oakland poverty skolaz with Theatre of the Poor and Po Peoples Radio workshop series
Led a ceremony & press conference to propose Homefulness in occupied Yelamu (SF)
Launched WeSearch (aka research) investigation into Caltrans Sweeps
The Po Poets and Poverty Skola authors of Poor Press (www.poorpress.net) are finalizing their books, poems and anthologies to be released in February 2024
Began a movement/family collaboration with our fellow Houseless relatives at Wood Street Commons to help them Liberate Mama Earth and build their own forever homes
More 2023 highlights:
People Skool Decolonization/DegentriFUKation Seminar on Zoom
We held TWO People Skool seminars for people with race, class, and/or formal education privilege. Next People Skool Seminar is January 20th & 21st, 2024.
Crushing Wheelchairs was performed live on stage – movie coming in 2024
Produced and staged 3 sold out productions of the original show, Crushing Wheelchairs, with an all Houseless cast —honoring ancestors of homelessness, poLice terror and sweeps. It premiered in February in SF and Oakland, and was also performed in Vallejo. The Crushing Wheelchairs narrative film will be released in 2024. Stay connected to learn more!
Stolen Land/Hoarded Resources UnTours Across Turtle Island
POOR Magazine went on the Road for an UnTour to occupied Tongva and Chumash territory aka Beverly Hills. We walked thru wealth-hoarder neighborhoods on stolen indigenous land to share the medicine of radical redistribution and comeunity reparations. We also did UnTours in Chief Siaal (so-called Seattle) for a Homefulness in Duwamish territory.
Homefulness #2 in Deep East Huichin (Oakland) to permanently house our relatives
This year Wood Street faced an unlawful eviction and brutal demolition of a beautiful community that was built by houseless people to house themselves. Poor Magazine and Wood Street Commons herstorically broke ground on Homefulness #2 this year and will continue building next year.
Graduated 8 new Houseless/no-income writers, reporters and radio producers & facilitated the launching of four new poverty skola-led podcasts/radio broadcasts: We r All Connected, The Peoples Botánica, Dr. Sweets Critique, & In the Spirit of Nat Turner. Listen to PNNKEXU 96.1FM every Tuesday & Thursday for multi- generational radio programming.
