They did it.
They actually did it.
The City of Aberdeen actually evicted the unhoused encampment from its spot down under the bridge, kicking everyone out permanently, removing all the infrastructure such as restrooms and dumpsters, and forcing people to disperse throughout the city. Some will hopefully find a place to go; a friend’s couch, an uncle’s backyard, and some will honestly probably leave this city for good. But the vast majority are without any options to speak of. There is insufficient shelter in Aberdeen, what shelter there is is incredibly high barrier (on purpose by the way) Catholic charity that half the unhoused are banned from anyway, and now the City is able to enforce all of its anti-homeless ordinances. The only outcome of this is to make the lives of the unhoused harder. It will be harder to access services, harder to get into treatment, harder to get housed, harder to do anything in their lives to better their situation or to even survive. Let’s take a moment to dive into these ordinances shall we?
Sit and Lie
12.41.010 Sitting or lying down on public sidewalks in downtown commercial zones.
A. Prohibition. No person shall sit or lie down upon a public sidewalk, or upon a blanket, chair, stool or other object placed upon a public sidewalk within the city of Aberdeen Downtown Parking and Business Improvement District as defined in Chapter 10.20 during the hours of 6:00 a.m. and 11:00 p.m.
The Aberdeen Downtown Parking and Business Improvement District brief description is an area located west of F
Street, including both sides of F
Street to center of the of L
Street, from the center of State Street going north to the center of 1st Street.
B. Exceptions. The prohibition in subsection (A) of this section shall not apply to any person:
1. Sitting or lying down on a public sidewalk due to a medical emergency;
2. Who, as a result of a disability, utilizes a wheelchair, walker or similar device to move about the public sidewalk;
3. Operating or patronizing a commercial establishment conducted on the public sidewalk pursuant to a street use permit;
4. Participating or attending a parade, festival, performance, rally, demonstration, meeting or similar event conducted on the public sidewalk pursuant to a street use or other applicable event;
5. Sitting on a chair or bench located on the public sidewalk which is supplied by a public agency or by the abutting private property owner; or
6. Sitting on a public sidewalk within a bus stop zone while waiting for public or private transportation.C. No person shall be cited under this section unless the person engages in conduct which is prohibited by this section after having been notified by a law enforcement officer that the conduct violates this section.
(Ord. 6626, Added, 05/23/2018)
Camping
DefinitionsB. “Camp” or “camping” means to pitch, create, use, or occupy camp facilities for the purposes of habitation, as evidenced by the use of camp paraphernalia.
C. “Camp facilities” include, but are not limited to, tents, huts, temporary shelters, or vehicles.
D. “Camp paraphernalia” includes, but is not limited to, tarpaulins, cots, beds, sleeping bags, blankets, mattresses, hammocks, or non-city-designated cooking facilities and similar equipment.12.46.040 Unlawful camping and storage of personal property in public places.A. It shall be unlawful for any person to camp or use camp paraphernalia in the following areas, except as otherwise provided by ordinance:1. Public parks, except as authorized under Chapter 2.60;
2. Any publicly owned property to which the public is not ordinarily allowed access, including but not limited to: public buildings, water storage tank sites, well sites, stormwater ponds and facilities, and other secured properties;
3. That portion of any street or sidewalk that is expressly reserved for vehicular or pedestrian travel;
4. Portions of any street right-of-way that are not expressly reserved for vehicular or pedestrian travel; and
5. Any other publicly owned parking lot or publicly owned property, improved or unimproved.B. It shall be unlawful for any person to occupy a vehicle for the purpose of camping while that vehicle is parked in any of the areas listed in subsection (A) of this section, except as otherwise provided by ordinance.
C. It shall be unlawful for any person to store camp facilities (other than vehicles) and camp paraphernalia in any of the areas listed in subsection (A) of this section, except as otherwise provided by ordinance.
(Ord. 6642 § 1, Amended, 02/13/2019; Ord. 6522, Added, 10/26/2011)12.46.050 Penalty for violation.1. When enforced as provided in Section 12.46.045, violation of any of the provisions of Section 12.46.040(A) (1), (2), (3) or (5) shall be a misdemeanor.
2. When enforced as provided in Section 12.46.045, violation of Section 12.46.040(A)(4) shall be a Class 4 civil infraction with penalties not to exceed twenty-five dollars ($25.00), consistent with RCW 7.80.120. [If you miss your court date for the civil infraction, which is common on the streets, it will still be bumped up to a misdemeanor charge.]
(Ord. 6675 § 1, Amended, 11/10/2021; Ord. 6642 § 1, Amended, 02/13/2019; Ord. 6522, Added, 10/26/2011)
So, no person, NO ONE, can sit or lie down on a sidewalk in the City of Aberdeen between the hours of 6am to 11pm anymore. Except for the few exceptions carved out above this means that unhoused folx, hell you and everyone you know, can be cited for the act of merely sitting down to rest. As for the camping “paraphernalia” restrictions, this is applied 24/7, unlike the sit and lie ordinance. Meaning that even during the hours of the day in which people are allowed to sit or lie down on a sidewalk, they are not allowed to use, so called camping paraphernalia. Anything that might keep the elements off a person or make it possible to sleep through the night on the cold hard cement of a sidewalk is banned. So, not only must they be on their feet constantly for 17 hours a day, but when they are allowed to rest they cannot use anything that would make that rest useful or comfortable. This is obviously inhumane, but let us examine the ways in which it is actually far worse than you think. This business about standing all day is reminiscent of the practice of using standing cells to torture prisoners and Holocaust victims during the last century. From Wikipedia:
A standing cell is a special cell constructed so as to prevent the prisoner from doing anything but stand. It was used in 19th century Turkey, and in 20th century Chile, Germany, and Soviet Union. The Stehbunker was used in Nazi concentration camps during the Third Reich as a punishment. Standing cells were also used during Joseph Stalin’s purges in the Soviet Union. Some standing cells were small enough for only one person, others held as many as four people.
It was used extensively by the KGB as a “pressure technique” for interrogating prisoners. From a Department of Defense report on the KGB technique published in 1956:
After 18 to 24 hours of continuous standing, there is an accumulation of fluid in the tissues of the legs. This dependent edema is produced by the extravasation of fluid from the blood vessels. The ankles and feet of the prisoner swell to twice their normal circumference. The edema may rise up the legs as high as the middle of the thighs.
The skin becomes tense and intensely painful. Large blisters develop, which break and exude watery serum. The accumulation of the body fluid in the legs produces impairment of the circulation.
The heart rate increases, and fainting may occur. Eventually, there is a renal shutdown, and urine production ceases. Urea and other metabolites accumulate in the blood. The prisoner becomes thirsty and may drink a good deal of water, which is not excreted but adds to the edema of his legs.
Men have been known to remain standing for periods as long as several days. Ultimately they usually develop a delirious state, characterized by disorientation, fear, delusions, and visual hallucinations. This psychosis is produced by a combination of circulatory impairment, lack of sleep, and uremia.
A 2007 joint report by Physicians for Human Rights and Human Rights First goes even further saying:
[P]rolonged standing may result in blood clots in the legs (deep vein thrombosis) which may subsequently travel to the lungs as pulmonary embolism. Pulmonary embolism can be fatal, and the risk is increased when immobility follows blunt trauma. Deaths due to prolonged restraint in prison settings have occurred in both civilian and military settings.
In addition to circulatory effects, prolonged standing can result in musculoskeletal (muscle and joint) foot and back pain, and can result in damage to peripheral nerves. Such nerve damage can result in decreased motor sensation, and decrease the ability of an individual to feel warmth, cold, or vibrations. Prolonged standing also carries the risk of fainting, which can result in significant blunt force trauma including head injury and fractures.
But the most infamous recent examples come from the early 2000s, in Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib. In Torture and Democracy, Darius Rejali says:
Positional torture in Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq involved the greatest variations. It included forcing prisoners to hold boxes and balance themselves on MRE (Meals Ready to Eat) boxes with arms extended. One military policeman (MP) attached wires to the fingers of hooded prisoners, warning them that they would receive electroshock if they ceased to stand. Prisoners were also handcuffed to rails, bunks, or doors of their cell and forced to stand or lie for long periods.
In 2003, General Ricardo Sanchez asked Rumsfeld to approve a similar set of techniques for use in Iraq. His memo includes this item, limiting such so-called “stress positions” to no more than one hour at a time for Iraqi prisoners of war:
Stress Positions: Use of physical postures (sitting, standing, kneeling, prone, etc.) for no more than 1 hour per use. Use of technique(s) will not exceed 4 hours and adequate rest between use of each position will be provided.
As for the amount of sleep one can expect to get out on the streets under this ordinance, its not much. With only seven hours being available to even lie down (without camping equipment) the likelihood of anyone getting even six hours of sleep is pretty slim. This effectively amounts to sleep deprivation.
The term sleep deprivation is used to describe a failure to obtain the necessary amount or quality of sleep. Chronic short sleep is frequently sleeping six hours or less a night. Chronic sleep restriction is defined as habitually sleeping more than four but less than seven hours a night.
A 2003 study suggested that:
“even relatively moderate sleep restriction—if sustained night after night—can seriously impair waking neurobehavioral functions in healthy young adults.” It further concluded that “the effects of sleep chronically limited to [four hours] and [six hours] per night on cognitive performance appear to reflect progressive neurocognitive dysfunction in systems underlying sustained attention and working memory.”
After one week of shortened sleep (six hours or less), a healthy adult’s cumulative impairments in vigilance, or alertness, are so profound that even three consecutive nights of full recovery sleep is insufficient. Further, an incomplete recovery in vigilance increases the likelihood of long-term injury.
Good luck getting into treatment now. Or making it your medical appointment. This actively impairs people’s ability to do the things needed to get housed.
A 2018 study found that:
Chronic short sleep in mice in early adulthood sped up the onset of motor impairment and yielded a greater loss of neurons in the locus coeruleus (the brain region critical for optimal cognitive performance and brain health) and the lateral amygdala. The damage to these neurons and disfunctions in these areas of the brain is implicated in depression and Alzheimer’s disease. Notably, even with an extended opportunity for recovery after chronic short sleep, the mice showed a toxic and sustained increase in a protein (pathogenic tau) associated with Alzheimer’s disease. More simply, even after the chronic sleep restriction ended, the tau protein continued to accumulate in the mouse’s brain. This study is not only suggestive of the dangerous impact of frequently sleeping six hours a night or less, but that the effects are long-lasting.
Not to mention the physiological effects that this torture has on the body:
Sleep duration under six hours was associated with high blood pressure, dyslipidemia, impaired glucose tolerance and diabetes, being overweight or obese, impaired immune function, heart disease, stroke, certain cancers, Alzheimer’s disease, and death.
In fact, sleeping for less than five hours a night for five consecutive nights yields the same effects of a .08 blood alcohol content.
And for those worried about people on the streets with a substance use disorder:
Chronic sleep restriction, even over limited periods, is further associated with enduring psychiatric disorders including depression, irritability, anxiety, and alcohol disorders.
The United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (“CAT”), a treaty ten years in the making, prohibited the practice of torture, and more specifically defined the term. Under the CAT, torture is defined as:
[A]ny act (ie anti-homelesss ordinances) by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person (stated goal of city is to force people to get into treatment), or for any reason based on discrimination (poverty, addiction, disability, mental illness) of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity.
So, it is clear that what the City of Aberdeen is doing to its unhoused population is torture, under any reasonable definition of the word. Let’s consider whether it rises to genocide now.
In 1948, the UN General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (CPPCG) which defined the crime of genocide for the first time.
Genocide is a denial of the right of existence of entire human groups as homicide is the denial of the right to live of individual human beings; such denial of the right of existence shocks the conscience of mankind, results in great losses to humanity in the form of cultural and other contributions represented by these human groups, and is contrary to moral law and the spirit and aims of the United Nations. Many instances of such crimes of genocide have occurred when racial, religious, political and other groups have been destroyed, entirely or in part.
— UN Resolution 96(1), 11 December 1946
We would like to draw attention to the underlined portion that reads, “political or other groups”. We contend that the population of unhoused within the City of Aberdeen constitute a “human group” by this definition. Meaning that since one the five acts considered to be genocide is “deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part”. We argue that what the City of Aberdeen is doing amounts to nothing less than genocide of the poor, the addicted, the disabled, and the mentally ill. We charge them with genocide and trust that the people of Aberdeen can best determine their judgement and fates. It would surprise no one to see them all in a room someday soon over this.
To get an idea for what the hell the City is thinking in taking this action let’s look at the stated purpose of the anti-camping ordinance as written in the text of the ordinance itself:
It is the purpose of this chapter to prevent harm to the health or safety of the public and to promote the public health, safety and general welfare by making public streets and other areas readily accessible to the public and to prevent use of public property for camping purposes or storage of personal property which interferes with the rights of others to use the areas for which they were intended.
Do you think that evicting the unhoused, people already at the end of their wits, has the desired effect of preventing harm to the health and safety of the public? What about the rights of these so-called “others” to use these spaces. What will the portion of the city previously designated for long-term camping be used for now that they have cleared the unhoused out? Time will tell, but something says that it wont be used by anyone for anything. The City complains in their ordinance about the lack of sanitation facilities and yet they are the reason those facilities don’t exist, they removed them all. So now we will get to see what problem they have manufactured this time. What will displacing all those campers do to downtown Aberdeen? What will the new complaint be? It will undoubtedly come from the same people who demanded this happen, and it will probably be more complaining without solution offering.
Timeline
The timeline of events for evicting this camp was staggering to observe. First, the City Council members who have been vehemently anti-homeless for years proposed immediate enforcement of these ordinances once the Supreme Court decided the Grant’s Pass case. They got massive push back from all sectors of the community, especially the local housing providers, who said that they wouldn’t have time, funding, or even units to put people in before the deadline to evict. So, the council voted unanimously to extend the date of eviction by 30 days. Why 30 days? It was randomly suggested by one of the council members and then it just sort of stuck. By the end of the meeting the errant suggestion was as good as law. Could have been 60, or 90, but because some random person suggested 30 in a stray comment, the City of Aberdeen went with a 30 day extension to their cruelty. But they didn’t want people to do nothing during this 30 days, no! They specifically asked for an assessment to be done of those living at camp to determine what people’s plans and options were. They also requested a “report” from the local housing providers about what the housing situation is currently and how likely it would be to be able to house everyone down at camp in the next 30 days. It was like the air was sucked out of the room. You could tell the housing providers wanted to scream “THAT’S IMPOSSIBLE, YOU IDIOTS!!” at these maliciously incompetent fools.
So, everyone went their separate ways. No discussion of what exactly doing an “assessment of camp” entailed, or who would do it. Nothing in the way of metrics that they were looking for to make some sort of decision. But the feeling definitely was that the majority of the council had yet to make their minds up on proceeding with enforcement of these ordinances and wanted the 30 days and this additional info to help in making up their minds. Incorrect. They had their minds made up already and merely did what they did to placate the public who were so up-in-arms about the potential eviction. See, at the next meeting there was presented to the council the most mediocre of reports about the flimsy assessment the Coastal Community Action Program (CCAP) ended up conducting with a portion of the campers. The questions they asked were not helpful to the council, and they said as much, expressing that the data they really wanted was about people’s plans for what to do for housing when there was no more camp, not how they became unhoused, what their needs were, or where they came from originally. There was also nothing as far as a report from local housing providers about the state of housing on the Harbor other than a comment about how there really was no housing on the Harbor. They did acknowledge that the issue wasn’t personal failings but a lack of housing units on the Harbor.
So, naturally you would think they would have extended things another 30 days to gather this data they so desperately wanted. Data they could have complied over the last year, a year the Homeless Response Committee spent doing nothing but sweeping camp. Data that actually gets collected and reported regularly and is easily available to those curious to look for it. These council members don’t care about this data, they don’t need facts to make their mind up. Hell, even when the two most ardent supporters of this eviction were roundly rebuked by the council for their behaviors, those councilors left couldn’t muster up the courage to call for an emergency meeting about this, or call for a halt to the eviction, or even another 30 day extension, NOTHING! With concerted effort, those remaining council members could have easily prevented this from happening, they did nothing, they are useless to our movement. Less than that, they are an active waste of time, energy, and resources. Kacey Ann Morrison lost her position as Council President for creating such a hostile work environment and for harassing local organizers, Riley Carter resigned from within jail where he is being held for first degree r*pe of a child, and STILL they couldn’t even beat their eviction back another 30 days.
Winter is Coming
Winter is coming fast. It happens every year. Every year this City gets caught with its pants down in regards to winter preparations for the unhoused. Who will run the emergency cold weather shelter? Where will it be? Will Aberdeen let it within city limits this year? Will there even be one? How will not being able to even have a blanket, a tent, a tarp, or any way of heating oneself or protecting oneself from the elements affect people living outside this winter? How many people will die?
These are the questions we need to be asking currently, because this is just around the corner. Other relevant question include but are not limited to:
Have you joined the IWW yet (aberdeeniww.noblogs.org)?
Are you organizing the unhoused into a union capable of meeting its own needs?
Wait, why not take what we need from Terry Emmert again?
Molotov Now?
Why does council member Debbie Hodgkin live in a 8,000+ sq ft mansion at 102 W 11th st and expect us poor people to take on even more roommates in order to solve the housing crisis she helped create?
Where does Kacey Ann Morrison live? (Answer: 1116 Ruby Court, accepting visitors 24/7)
How do you sabotage heavy equipment?
Can my cat read my mind?
If my City is ran by fascists with a genocidal agenda of torturing the poor to death…what can I do about that?
What gets the goods? (Answer: direct action)
Ok, so some of these have clear answers, others we will need to meet as a community to discuss and formulate plans.
One thing is abundantly clear: This will not be tolerated.
The City of Aberdeen is on notice, there will be consequences for this action. We are organizing this community to be able to take what it needs to survive from those who keep it from us with myths of hard work and prosperity and masses and masses of violence and there is nothing they can do to stop us. Their best bet would be to get out of our way. In the words of our trans comrades, “Respect existence or expect resistance”.
So, Dear City Council, you have your enemy now. It is us: the poor, the mad, the beaten down, the bedraggled, the ones you seem so scared of already. Yet you pester us, like a child kicking a hornet’s nest, you are ill prepared for your coming fate. May your legs shake with fear and apprehension every time you pass a person who’s hair is a little unkempt, who is wearing a dirty hoodie, or who is singing to themselves; we are everywhere. It is from the most vulnerable that you will ultimately learn humility, it is from us that you will learn regret.
From The Saboteurs:
Someday Comrades
Sources:
https://aberdeen.municipal.codes/AMC/12.41.010
https://aberdeen.municipal.codes/AMC/12.46
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standing_cell
http://myuprightlife.com/index.php/2021/05/25/standing-is-torture/
Biderman, Albert D. 1957. “Communist Attempts to Elicity Confessions From Air Force Prisoners of War.” Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine 33 (9): 616–625. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1806204/pdf/bullnyacadmed00378-0046.pdf
Hinkle, Lawrence E., and Harold G. Wolff. 1956. “Communist Interrogation and Indoctrination of “Enemies of the State”: Analysis of Methods Used by the Commuinist State Police (A Special Report).” CIA. Accessed May 24, 2021. https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP65-00756R000400020008-8.pdf
Physicians for Human Rights and Human Rights First. 2007. “Leave No Marks: Enhanced Interrogation Techniques and the Risk of Criminality.” Accessed May 24, 2021.
https://phr.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/leave-no-marks-1.pdf
Rejali, Darius. 2007. “Forced Standing and Other Positions.” Chap. 15 in Torture and Democracy, 316–333. Princeton University Press. ISBN: 9780691143330.
Sanchez, Ricardo S. 2003. “CJTF-7 Interrogation and Counter Resistance Policy.” September 14. Accessed May 24, 2021. https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/torturingdemocracy/documents/20030914.pdf
https://digitalcommons.law.umaryland.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3927&context=mlr
See generally Sayuri Katano et al., Relationship Between Sleep Duration and Clustering of
Metabolic Syndrome Diagnostic Components, 4 DIABETES, METABOLIC SYNDROME AND OBESITY:
TARGETS & THERAPY 119 (2011); Dolores Buscemi et al., Short Sleep Times Predict Obesity in
Internal Medicine Clinic Patients, 3 J. CLINICAL SLEEP MED. 687 (2007); Fighting Soldier Fatigue
& Enhancing Cognitive Sleep Dominance
Addendum:
Responses and comments we have received:
Our response:
The homeless use social services to get off the streets…that’s why we should shutter them all. hmm OK. Make sense. Who wouldn’t LOVE to live in the world you imagine in your head. Everyone just OK with poor people dying in the streets en masse because they have mental illnesses, substance use disorders, lack of health care, or a disability. Where have we seen those populations demonized and eradicated before….where did that ever happen historically?
Why even point to the actual causes of homelessness when we could just point out that with professionals like you its no wonder we are still dealing with the problem today. Thank for nothing!
Oh and, we are NOT gone. They remain, scattered and traumatized, but still very much a part of this community. We are not going anywhere, except maybe into Terry Emmert’s abandoned buildings when we seize them for our purposes. You all get so mad when we tell it how it is, that housing should be free, health care – free, food – free, prisons – none, education – decolonized. Enjoy all your weird ass hate. We base our movement in radical anarchic JOY.