Occupy and the homeless

Like Occupations everywhere, we in Athens have had homeless people of all types join our scene. Some are nutters; others, like the guy who's in my tent right now, worked for decades and lost their jobs in the recession. BOTH types ABSOLUTELY deserve to be represented; they've been a lot harder-hit than privileged folks like me.

They're also a crucial part of the community building that's central to the Occupy movement. Privileged folks like me have a lot to learn from them. I walked such a lady to her "home" from our Occupation camp last night. Her home's a tent in the woods in a park near my house. She needed someone to walk her home because another homeless guy who lives in those woods has been raping homeless women. He's had the cops called on him a few times, but as you can imagine, law enforcement's difficult in that community: nobody's got phones or fixed addresses, lots of folks have mental or substance-abuse problems. This lady's been homeless only for a month or so; she's been mugged, her camp's been raided and she's been physically threatened repeatedly. This is a church-going lady who doesn't read and write so well but has worked every day in her life -- she's in her 50s -- until recently. No lock on her door; no door.

If Occupy looks unsightly because it's got folks like her handing out pamphlets, great: I'm GLAD these folks, for this brief instant, aren't living in the shadows.