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by HOMELESS PEOPLE'S NETWORK
Special Resolution over the Issue of Nagai Park
Concerning the construction of the shelter in Nagai park, Sumiyoshi, Osaka,
the struggle have been still continuing. Osaka, as the second largest city
in Japan, has the most number of people forced to live on the street. Those
homeless people are found mainly in the parks round the Osaka Castle and
Ogimachi, in the midst of Down Town, on the riverside, or in Kamagasaki, the
biggest pool of day-labourers. Among them, Nagai Park envisages more than
400 comrades' lives in tents without any alternative housing provided
properly. Like in other places, years have mercilessly passed without any
substantive countermeasures against such a condition by the authority. Hence
the comrades in the park have made a bare living mostly by can collecting,
supporting each other with some sort of mutual-aids, say, in the unit of
small groups.
Though having enough knowledge about these situations of these homeless,
which the case in Nagai Park represents, Osaka administration have coped
with this issue in the most undesirable way, so far. Under the title of
Rehabilitation Project, they always put priority on the policies for the
press and the neighbour citizens, neglecting the homeless people involved.
Never excusable is this disdainful attitude toward the comrades in the Nagai
Park, which is trampling on others situated likewise in the whole country,
too. We are finally combined with the comrades from other areas of Osaka
like Kamagasaki and Kita, while those amounts near to 200 in the meanwhile,
who have been expelled out of the park because of their rejecting of the
project by the administrator. (The number includes those who got the
alternative housing by the livelihood protection, though). As a result of
our solidarity, the homeless comrades in the Park and other places have
successfully won the assurance on the side of the authority, that they
should not execute any compulsive eviction any longer, besides apologising
for having neglected the people involved.
However, the different issues remain still unsolved in terms of; the evicted
people who rejected the resettlement into the prefab camp prepared by the
administrator; the utterance of the administrator to imply some eviction at
the account meeting with the neighbour citizens; the shelter construction
opposed by the neighbourhood; and the firm cold-blooded attitude of the
Mayor Isomura despite the proposal for the national subsidy by the Minister
of Health and Welfare. All those exposes that their most projected measures
on this issue always conceal the intended eviction behind their surface
accounts to the homeless people.
We consider any kind of countermeasures against the homelessness under the
conditioned of evictions definitely false, and we must resist against that
way, pressing so-called either-or-options (Going out, otherwise evicted!) by
the administrator without any persuading alternatives, which respects the
people involved. Needless to say, it should be rather the people themselves
on the street, who have the right to decide to make use of the supply
proposed by the administrator.
We are, asking for the life with roof and job, never defeated by poverty,
and ready to welcome negotiations with the authority, provided that their
policy making process openly goes on with the mutual agreement, and proposes
some efficient measures, developing helpful environment for the
self-supporting activity. Never unacceptable is just any one-way requirement
aiming at evictions, forcing homeless comrades to remove without any
agreement and any alternative housing supports.
And we never withdraw our foot-board, obtained through the struggle against
the unjust eviction happened in Shinjuku, Tokyo in 1996. With all the
nation-wide support, we will reinforce our bonds steadily and progress steps
to win the substantive countermeasures against the problem around the
homelessness. So, let's keep our solidarity close and develop our joint
struggle over the whole country! All attendants at the conference of
National Anti-Unemployment movement.
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Plea for help from the Nagai Park Sqatters
Dear Friends,
We, the group of the homeless comrades in Nagai Park, Osaka, Japan, declare the protest against the outrageous act that the Osaka City has proceeded as the administrative enforcement to evict the homeless people (3 tents) from Nagai Park since 23. January 2001. Although the City tries to justify it with the establishment of the shelter for the homeless people constructed recently in Nagai Park, we consider this act of the City as the serious charge against the whole movement of the homeless people in Japan in the following points:
1) With a set of acts aiming at the forced eviction, Osaka City is on their side about to violate their promise with us, on 5. October 2000, not to undertake any forced eviction.
(Please refer the following Home Page in detail. http://www.jca.apc.org/nojukusha/nojiren/e-home/text/nagai001209.html)
2) If the shelter project for the homeless people must permit the clearance of the 480 tents in Nagai Park finally, this will be the worst example which would create an upsurge of more evictions in other cities of Japan that the government can justify with the establishment of shelters.
3) The shelter was originally planned not under the intention to meet urgent needs of the homeless people involved. It was rather constructed as the isolation asylum of the poor motivated by the invitation of the coming Olympic held in 2008. (Nagai Park has the stadium for the Olympic). And the eviction this time is itself a quite political scheme just before the inspection by IOC members expected soon in February.
We as survivals never give over the human dignity for roof and food. With a view to continue our struggle, we need your help from all over the world. We would appreciate, if you kindly support us in the form of letters to be sent to:
Mr. Takafumi Isomura
Mayor of Osaka City
Fax.
+81-6-6202-6961 (in charge of homeless issue) +81-6-6344-5119 (in charge of public park)
+81-6-6202-6971 (in charge of Olympic Bid) *If possible, please send the same letter to the 3 above Fax numbers.
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