Welcome to Community Liberation Podcast, a podcast about applying revolutionary theory to revolutionary practice. On our very first episode, we discuss one of the most overt contradictions of life under capitalism: how thousands are forced to live without adequate shelter while empty homes lie uninhabited in one of the "wealthiest" regions in the world--the bay area. We analyze the conditions leading up to the encampment sweeps since the Grants Pass ruling in 2024, as well as the aftermath. We talk with Thai from People's Programs about how the sweeps have impacted their organizing on the ground and how they continue to support unhoused neighbors. Houselessness is a product of the principal contradiction, capitalism/imperialism, as are climate change and the prison-industrial complex. Our conversation spans all of these crises and how they are connected - bringing us to emphasize (and we can't do this enough!) the importance of revolutionary local organizing. From the masses to the masses! 

Time Stamps:

• Introduction 0:00
• Background of the encampment sweeps 2:53
• Welcome Thai from People's Programs 19:19
• Connection to the principal contradiction 37:40
• LA fires and climate change 48:50 
• Resources and local organizing opportunities 1:02:40

Recommended Readings:

• Value, Price, and Profit by Karl Marx
• Wage Labor and Capital by Karl Marx

Organizations information:

• People's Programs website
• CLP website/Buy me a coffee/Givebutter

Sources:

New clips audio

• ABC 7 News Bay Area - As Bay Area homeless encampment sweeps intensify, so do questions and pushback
• KPIX | CBS News Bay Area - Business owners near West Oakland encampment concerned after recent fire

• ABC 7 News Bay Area - Berkeley city council votes to crack down on homeless encampment sweeps

Background and statistics

• KQED News - What Rights Do Unhoused People Have Amid Heightened Sweeps?
• CBS News - Oakland clears large homeless encampment near MLK Jr. Way
• UC Berkeley Goldman School of Public Policy - Standing Together: A Prevention-Oriented Approach to Ending Homelessness in Oakland

• The Oaklandside - Who lives in downtown Oakland’s shiny new apartment towers?
• The Oaklandside - Oakland’s population grew by 50,000 over the past decade, 2020 Census data shows

Other Resources

• Anti-Eviction Mapping Project
• Segregation by Design - OAKLAND: FREEWAYS & URBAN RENEWAL
• SF Chronicle - Map shows once-affordable Bay Area neighborhoods that have changed the most
• Urban Displacement Project - SF Bay Area – Gentrification and Displacement