WEBVTT 00:00:02.870 --> 00:00:03.870 Greetings Troublemakers... 00:00:03.870 --> 00:00:05.070 welcome to Trouble. 00:00:05.070 --> 00:00:07.090 My name is not important. 00:00:07.090 --> 00:00:08.040 Whether you live in a 00:00:08.040 --> 00:00:09.630 densely-populated metropolis, 00:00:09.630 --> 00:00:10.630 or a mid-sized city, 00:00:10.630 --> 00:00:11.920 chances are you've had 00:00:11.920 --> 00:00:13.070 first-hand experiences 00:00:13.070 --> 00:00:13.970 dealing with the process 00:00:13.970 --> 00:00:15.260 of capitalist urbanization 00:00:15.260 --> 00:00:17.110 known as gentrification. 00:00:17.110 --> 00:00:18.960 It's called gentrification. 00:00:18.960 --> 00:00:20.620 They can buy the land at a lower price. 00:00:20.620 --> 00:00:22.330 Then they move all the people out, 00:00:22.330 --> 00:00:23.440 raise the property value, 00:00:23.440 --> 00:00:25.070 and sell it at a profit. 00:00:25.070 --> 00:00:26.080 While this disease is 00:00:26.080 --> 00:00:27.680 often popularly associated 00:00:27.680 --> 00:00:29.453 with its most visible symptoms, 00:00:29.453 --> 00:00:31.366 like the opening of a new boutique cafe 00:00:31.366 --> 00:00:32.126 on your block, 00:00:32.126 --> 00:00:33.870 or the seemingly endless construction 00:00:33.870 --> 00:00:35.940 of new high-rise condo towers... 00:00:35.940 --> 00:00:38.180 gentrification is, at its core, 00:00:38.180 --> 00:00:40.630 a process of displacement. 00:00:40.630 --> 00:00:41.630 It is class warfare, 00:00:41.630 --> 00:00:42.830 waged in the physical spaces 00:00:42.830 --> 00:00:44.550 of our neighbourhoods. 00:00:44.550 --> 00:00:46.330 It is speculation and investment, 00:00:46.330 --> 00:00:47.800 financed by banks, investment firms 00:00:47.800 --> 00:00:49.580 and pension funds, 00:00:49.580 --> 00:00:51.210 enacted by real estate developers 00:00:51.210 --> 00:00:52.710 and facilitated by state, regional 00:00:52.710 --> 00:00:54.710 and local governments. 00:00:54.710 --> 00:00:56.099 The development of the modern city 00:00:56.099 --> 00:00:58.179 has always been, and continues to be, 00:00:58.179 --> 00:00:59.729 intimately tied to the interests 00:00:59.729 --> 00:01:01.710 of capitalists and the ruling class. 00:01:01.710 --> 00:01:03.570 Many of the cities that exist today 00:01:03.570 --> 00:01:04.640 first emerged back in 00:01:04.640 --> 00:01:06.450 the 18th and 19th century, 00:01:06.450 --> 00:01:07.370 often in tandem with 00:01:07.370 --> 00:01:08.470 the development and spread 00:01:08.470 --> 00:01:09.800 of industrial manufacturing 00:01:09.800 --> 00:01:11.560 and resource extraction. 00:01:11.880 --> 00:01:13.380 Early capitalists required 00:01:13.380 --> 00:01:15.250 massive numbers of workers to toil 00:01:15.250 --> 00:01:16.680 in their factories and mines, 00:01:16.680 --> 00:01:18.640 and so people were forced off the land 00:01:18.640 --> 00:01:20.690 and into concentrated urban populations, 00:01:20.690 --> 00:01:21.660 where they often lived 00:01:21.660 --> 00:01:23.160 in squalor and misery. 00:01:23.160 --> 00:01:24.770 In much of the Global South, 00:01:24.770 --> 00:01:26.750 this phenomenon is still taking place, 00:01:26.750 --> 00:01:28.650 as farmers and Indigenous communities 00:01:28.650 --> 00:01:30.100 are pushed off their lands and forced 00:01:30.100 --> 00:01:31.920 to move to cities to work in factories 00:01:31.920 --> 00:01:33.890 or precarious jobs in informal 00:01:33.890 --> 00:01:35.640 and black market economies. 00:01:35.950 --> 00:01:38.260 In 2014, the UN estimated that 00:01:38.260 --> 00:01:40.050 for the first time in human history, 00:01:40.050 --> 00:01:42.470 more than half of us lived in cities. 00:01:42.470 --> 00:01:44.420 This trend is only set to increase.. 00:01:44.420 --> 00:01:46.350 and by far the fastest rate of urban 00:01:46.350 --> 00:01:48.000 population growth is occurring in 00:01:48.000 --> 00:01:49.080 sprawling and overcrowded 00:01:49.080 --> 00:01:50.540 mega-slums. 00:01:50.540 --> 00:01:52.380 Meanwhile, in the Global North, 00:01:52.380 --> 00:01:54.180 today's metropolitan cities have become 00:01:54.180 --> 00:01:55.760 the command and control centres 00:01:55.760 --> 00:01:57.590 for transnational corporations, 00:01:57.590 --> 00:01:59.080 hubs of global finance, 00:01:59.080 --> 00:02:00.780 and incubators of the dynamic new 00:02:00.780 --> 00:02:02.473 flag-bearers of the so-called 00:02:02.473 --> 00:02:03.886 information economy. 00:02:04.126 --> 00:02:05.370 Yet at the same time, 00:02:05.370 --> 00:02:07.030 decades of corporate off-shoring 00:02:07.030 --> 00:02:08.790 and neoliberal structural adjustments 00:02:08.790 --> 00:02:10.030 have created deep reservoirs 00:02:10.030 --> 00:02:11.610 of inequality. 00:02:11.610 --> 00:02:13.623 Gentrification is a byproduct 00:02:13.623 --> 00:02:14.836 of this contradiction. 00:02:14.836 --> 00:02:15.910 A process whereby cities 00:02:15.910 --> 00:02:16.655 and neighbourhoods 00:02:16.655 --> 00:02:17.640 regenerate themselves 00:02:17.640 --> 00:02:19.370 by displacing working-class people 00:02:19.370 --> 00:02:21.230 to suburban ghettos in order to make 00:02:21.230 --> 00:02:22.670 more room for the lavish lifestyles 00:02:22.670 --> 00:02:23.591 of the rich. 00:02:23.591 --> 00:02:25.510 Over the next thirty minutes, 00:02:25.510 --> 00:02:27.000 we will look at gentrification 00:02:27.000 --> 00:02:28.290 as a structural phenomenon, 00:02:28.290 --> 00:02:29.850 and examine how it is playing out 00:02:29.850 --> 00:02:31.000 in three megacities: 00:02:31.000 --> 00:02:33.530 Toronto, New Orleans and Istanbul. 00:02:33.530 --> 00:02:34.599 Along the way, 00:02:34.599 --> 00:02:36.099 we will highlight the voices of a number 00:02:36.099 --> 00:02:37.489 of individuals who are organizing 00:02:37.489 --> 00:02:38.499 with their neighbours, 00:02:38.499 --> 00:02:39.649 fighting back against the state 00:02:39.649 --> 00:02:41.109 and corporate developers... 00:02:41.109 --> 00:02:42.769 and making a whole lot of trouble. 00:03:11.179 --> 00:03:14.569 Since the financial crisis in 2008, 00:03:14.569 --> 00:03:16.019 we’ve increasingly seen 00:03:16.019 --> 00:03:17.932 the financialization of 00:03:17.932 --> 00:03:20.296 the rental housing sector. 00:03:20.296 --> 00:03:21.296 Financialization is a bit of 00:03:21.296 --> 00:03:22.420 a complicated term. 00:03:22.420 --> 00:03:24.689 What it really refers to is this shift 00:03:24.689 --> 00:03:26.579 in the way that capitalism 00:03:26.579 --> 00:03:27.829 has been operating, 00:03:27.829 --> 00:03:29.219 and a change that's taken place 00:03:29.219 --> 00:03:30.669 since about the 1970’s. 00:03:31.189 --> 00:03:33.359 So a shift from capital accumulation 00:03:33.359 --> 00:03:35.059 coming from commodity production 00:03:35.059 --> 00:03:37.239 to coming through financial channels. 00:03:37.239 --> 00:03:39.240 And what this has also involved is 00:03:39.240 --> 00:03:41.070 an increasing role for finance capital 00:03:41.070 --> 00:03:42.470 in other parts of the economy where 00:03:42.470 --> 00:03:43.779 it hadn’t previously played 00:03:43.779 --> 00:03:45.099 a prominent role, 00:03:45.099 --> 00:03:46.760 and then enforcing on those 00:03:46.760 --> 00:03:50.350 parts of the economy, logics of finance. 00:03:50.790 --> 00:03:54.120 Today, big money is made in cities. 00:03:54.120 --> 00:03:56.040 The real estate market is currently 00:03:56.040 --> 00:03:57.210 the largest sector of 00:03:57.210 --> 00:03:58.850 the Canadian economy. 00:03:58.850 --> 00:04:00.300 If you look at the biggest landlords 00:04:00.300 --> 00:04:02.900 in the country, 18 out of the top 20 00:04:02.900 --> 00:04:04.320 would fall under the category 00:04:04.320 --> 00:04:06.359 of these financialized landlords. 00:04:06.579 --> 00:04:08.260 You see things like hedge funds 00:04:08.260 --> 00:04:09.980 and pension funds that are invested 00:04:09.980 --> 00:04:12.139 in different local housing markets 00:04:12.139 --> 00:04:13.959 because it’s seen as a relatively 00:04:13.959 --> 00:04:15.519 safe investment. 00:04:15.519 --> 00:04:17.280 Fincialized investment in Canada 00:04:17.280 --> 00:04:20.080 has been growing since the 1990’s. 00:04:20.080 --> 00:04:22.270 Real Estate Investment Trusts 00:04:22.270 --> 00:04:23.750 are increasingly taking over 00:04:23.750 --> 00:04:25.750 the rental housing market. 00:04:25.750 --> 00:04:27.440 Since 1996, 00:04:27.440 --> 00:04:28.690 Real Estate Investment Trusts, 00:04:28.690 --> 00:04:29.980 or REIT’s, in particular, 00:04:29.980 --> 00:04:32.470 have grown from owning zero 00:04:32.470 --> 00:04:33.980 multi-family apartment suites, 00:04:33.980 --> 00:04:36.170 to owning over 160 000. 00:04:36.170 --> 00:04:37.630 Such that now they own 00:04:37.630 --> 00:04:41.080 about ten percent of privately-built 00:04:41.080 --> 00:04:43.600 multi-family housing in the country. 00:04:43.600 --> 00:04:44.589 Real Estate Investment Trusts 00:04:44.589 --> 00:04:47.139 allow investors to pool capital together 00:04:47.139 --> 00:04:49.349 to purchase real estate 00:04:49.349 --> 00:04:50.859 and the real estate itself 00:04:50.859 --> 00:04:52.219 then gets managed in a way 00:04:52.219 --> 00:04:53.919 to try and increase its value 00:04:53.919 --> 00:04:55.322 and generate profits 00:04:55.322 --> 00:04:56.365 back to those investors. 00:04:56.365 --> 00:04:57.979 So real estate investment trusts 00:04:57.979 --> 00:04:59.929 have access to tremendous amounts 00:04:59.929 --> 00:05:02.329 of capital and can buy large portfolios 00:05:02.329 --> 00:05:03.970 of buildings as they grow. 00:05:03.970 --> 00:05:05.630 And then they can take advantage of 00:05:05.630 --> 00:05:07.070 economies of scale to make 00:05:07.070 --> 00:05:08.450 those buildings more profitable. 00:05:08.450 --> 00:05:10.960 What they call this is "re-positioning." 00:05:10.960 --> 00:05:13.749 This has created a situation where 00:05:13.749 --> 00:05:16.019 all landlords across the board 00:05:16.019 --> 00:05:18.610 have been forced to take on 00:05:18.610 --> 00:05:21.520 certain strategies to increase profits 00:05:21.520 --> 00:05:23.960 in order to compete on that market. 00:05:23.960 --> 00:05:25.190 Housing prices have been going up 00:05:25.190 --> 00:05:26.430 in Canada and indeed 00:05:26.430 --> 00:05:27.940 other parts of the world. 00:05:27.940 --> 00:05:30.700 Canada’s been hit particularly hard. 00:05:30.700 --> 00:05:33.099 One of the hottest real estate markets 00:05:33.099 --> 00:05:35.139 where we’ve seen the largest increase 00:05:35.139 --> 00:05:38.599 in property values has been Toronto. 00:05:38.599 --> 00:05:39.690 In Ontario, 00:05:39.690 --> 00:05:41.570 the government sets an annual 00:05:41.570 --> 00:05:42.790 rent guideline. 00:05:42.790 --> 00:05:44.799 This is the amount that landlords 00:05:44.799 --> 00:05:46.839 are legally permitted to 00:05:46.839 --> 00:05:49.569 raise rents for sitting tenants. 00:05:49.569 --> 00:05:53.370 The guideline in 2017 was 1.5 percent. 00:05:53.370 --> 00:05:56.399 Yet we saw a 6% overall 00:05:56.399 --> 00:05:58.589 increase in rents. 00:05:59.129 --> 00:06:01.479 And so landlords have been able 00:06:01.479 --> 00:06:04.459 to raise rents beyond 00:06:04.459 --> 00:06:06.169 the provincial guideline 00:06:06.169 --> 00:06:09.180 primarily through vacancy decontrol. 00:06:09.180 --> 00:06:12.790 Since the 90’s we’ve had no rent control 00:06:12.790 --> 00:06:14.520 on vacant units. 00:06:14.520 --> 00:06:16.159 So this creates a pressure 00:06:16.159 --> 00:06:18.129 to try and make units vacant 00:06:18.129 --> 00:06:19.989 so that the rent can be increased 00:06:19.989 --> 00:06:21.750 up to whatever the market will bear. 00:06:21.750 --> 00:06:23.540 In the last year, 00:06:23.540 --> 00:06:25.750 the average price for a one bedroom 00:06:25.750 --> 00:06:28.750 unit in Toronto has increased 00:06:28.750 --> 00:06:30.940 to over $2000. 00:06:31.530 --> 00:06:32.659 The pattern that we’ve seen 00:06:32.659 --> 00:06:35.619 has been one of increasing social and 00:06:35.619 --> 00:06:37.459 spacial inequality in this city. 00:06:37.459 --> 00:06:40.439 So a pattern towards gentrification 00:06:40.439 --> 00:06:42.199 in the urban core. 00:06:42.709 --> 00:06:43.949 The demographic data 00:06:43.949 --> 00:06:45.539 is really very clear. 00:06:45.539 --> 00:06:48.969 It shows that downtown Toronto 00:06:48.969 --> 00:06:52.339 and the corridors along subway lines 00:06:52.339 --> 00:06:54.649 are essentially enclaves 00:06:54.649 --> 00:06:56.479 for rich white people. 00:06:56.479 --> 00:06:59.660 The majority of working-class, 00:06:59.660 --> 00:07:02.360 heavily racialized population 00:07:02.360 --> 00:07:03.710 is being pushed out 00:07:03.710 --> 00:07:05.250 into the inner suburbs 00:07:05.250 --> 00:07:07.900 or is struggling to stay 00:07:07.900 --> 00:07:10.960 in a few remaining areas 00:07:10.960 --> 00:07:13.720 in and around downtown Toronto, 00:07:13.720 --> 00:07:15.810 including places like Parkdale 00:07:15.810 --> 00:07:18.950 and the Queen and Sherbourne area. 00:07:18.950 --> 00:07:21.499 Rising house prices in Toronto 00:07:21.499 --> 00:07:24.169 have also created a situation where 00:07:24.169 --> 00:07:26.829 many young professionals in the market 00:07:26.829 --> 00:07:28.500 for their first homes 00:07:28.500 --> 00:07:30.130 have been priced out of the city. 00:07:30.130 --> 00:07:31.379 So we’re seeing a lot of young 00:07:31.379 --> 00:07:34.499 professional people trying to buy property 00:07:34.499 --> 00:07:36.319 in cities like Hamilton. 00:07:36.519 --> 00:07:38.509 The city of Hamilton’s cool quotient 00:07:38.509 --> 00:07:40.459 has been on the rise for some time, 00:07:40.459 --> 00:07:42.030 but the prosperity that’s got some 00:07:42.030 --> 00:07:43.820 celebrating has others worried about 00:07:43.820 --> 00:07:45.650 whether the urban renaissance there 00:07:45.650 --> 00:07:47.220 could be leaving some people behind. 00:07:47.220 --> 00:07:54.499 Hamilton is a mid size city in southern Ontario and for most of its history, Hamilton was 00:07:54.499 --> 00:07:55.819 a large steel manufacturer. 00:07:55.819 --> 00:08:00.419 It’s still known as the “Steel Town” although for years now, the steel industry 00:08:00.419 --> 00:08:05.030 has been shrinking, and now it’s trying to essentially recreate itself as a “artistic 00:08:05.030 --> 00:08:10.550 hub” and kind of draw in creative professionals from the greater Toronto Area. 00:08:10.550 --> 00:08:16.740 Because of Hamilton’s physical proximity to Toronto, we have kind of a secondary wave 00:08:16.740 --> 00:08:19.669 of gentrification happening in Hamilton. 00:08:19.669 --> 00:08:27.301 The province of Ontario has regional population targets and a general idea about where they 00:08:27.301 --> 00:08:29.979 want to see population growth happening. 00:08:29.979 --> 00:08:34.700 In order to facilitate this and in order to integrate some of the metropolitan areas, 00:08:34.700 --> 00:08:39.328 they’ve invested in larger scale transportation infrastructure. 00:08:39.328 --> 00:08:43.889 One such initiative is the Go Transit Network which is a fleet of busses and trains which 00:08:43.889 --> 00:08:47.459 link commuters from the greater Toronto Area. 00:08:47.459 --> 00:08:51.600 Hamilton has two new Go Transit Hubs in the works. 00:08:51.600 --> 00:08:54.430 One in the east and one in the north of downtown. 00:08:54.430 --> 00:08:58.890 Both of these are aimed at making Hamilton more attractive as a potential bedroom community 00:08:58.890 --> 00:08:59.890 of Toronto. 00:08:59.890 --> 00:09:05.970 And beyond that, the province is also funding a light rail transit or LRT line in Hamilton 00:09:05.970 --> 00:09:12.100 which is going to run the length of the lower city from Mcmaster University in the west, 00:09:12.100 --> 00:09:16.240 out to Stoney Creek in the very east end of the city. 00:09:16.240 --> 00:09:21.620 This project is really going to open up the city to gentrification. 00:09:21.620 --> 00:09:29.250 This is essentially a state led strategy of urban intensification and the levels of development 00:09:29.250 --> 00:09:33.700 that accompany it. 00:09:33.700 --> 00:09:37.420 Despite the upheaval and mass displacement that it brings in its wake, gentrification 00:09:37.420 --> 00:09:42.560 is usually a pretty gradual process, and one that traditionally tends to take place in 00:09:42.560 --> 00:09:43.560 stages. 00:09:43.560 --> 00:09:49.390 Stereotypically, it starts with artists, students and hipsters of various stripes moving into 00:09:49.390 --> 00:09:55.355 a working-class neighbourhood, drawn to the area by its cheap rents. 00:09:55.355 --> 00:09:59.070 These new arrivals bring with them increased social capital and disposable income, and 00:09:59.070 --> 00:10:00.690 soon a host of new cafes, restaurants, bars and art galleries begin to spring up to cater 00:10:00.690 --> 00:10:01.690 to their tastes. 00:10:01.690 --> 00:10:07.440 From there, the area starts to get a buzz, and real estate agents begin promoting it 00:10:07.440 --> 00:10:08.720 as an up-and-coming neighbourhood. 00:10:08.720 --> 00:10:15.260 Homeowners decide to cash in on rising property values, while long-standing working-class 00:10:15.260 --> 00:10:19.090 and racialized tenants are priced, or otherwise pushed out. 00:10:19.090 --> 00:10:23.700 More middle-class residents move in, rents go up... and the cycle repeats until the area 00:10:23.700 --> 00:10:26.740 is completely transformed into a sterile playground for the rich. 00:10:26.740 --> 00:10:30.960 That's how the story goes, anyway. 00:10:30.960 --> 00:10:36.360 In reality, this oversimplified formula for gentrification ignores the important role 00:10:36.360 --> 00:10:37.360 that developers, finance capital, police and urban planners at various levels of government 00:10:37.360 --> 00:10:38.360 play in coordinating the process. 00:10:38.360 --> 00:10:39.360 But even when all those variables are factored in, the fact remains that gentrification generally 00:10:39.360 --> 00:11:03.430 still takes years to play out... for the simple reason that it's hard to displace large numbers 00:11:03.430 --> 00:11:07.920 of poor people from their homes in one fell swoop. 00:11:07.920 --> 00:11:11.350 Except of course... when the powerful forces pushing gentrification get a little helping 00:11:11.350 --> 00:11:12.350 hand from the even more powerful forces of Mother Nature. 00:11:12.350 --> 00:11:13.399 You’ve got Pagoda’s over there, you’ve got the Church of Yoga over here, you’ve 00:11:13.399 --> 00:11:16.029 got the Uber building down the street, so you’ve got all these little spots here and 00:11:16.029 --> 00:11:21.149 there that are quickly making it so this is actually a high traffic area of primarily 00:11:21.149 --> 00:11:24.650 white people that are not from here carrying yoga mats. 00:11:24.650 --> 00:11:29.920 That’s what this area, it used to be a very poor area, got replaced with. 00:11:29.920 --> 00:11:34.970 I’ve seen this city go through changes in my life. 00:11:34.970 --> 00:11:41.750 The building of the Crescent City Connection- that bridge transformed this community in 00:11:41.750 --> 00:11:43.780 a multitude of ways. 00:11:43.780 --> 00:11:45.839 With that bridge came urban renewal. 00:11:45.839 --> 00:11:53.750 One of the oldest African Communities was displaced in order to build a housing project. 00:11:53.750 --> 00:11:57.139 The third would be Betsy, Hurricane Betsy. 00:11:57.139 --> 00:12:02.410 Because of Besty, people that would normally be still living down by the Bayou or the 9th 00:12:02.410 --> 00:12:05.339 ward, would have just remained in those areas. 00:12:05.339 --> 00:12:12.210 But because of the devastation of those communities, it forced them to come into a community that 00:12:12.210 --> 00:12:16.630 was being rebuilt and reborn, and then Katrina. 00:12:16.630 --> 00:12:22.389 Out of all of them, Katrina was the worst. 00:12:22.389 --> 00:12:25.870 It had the most devastating impact. 00:12:25.870 --> 00:12:27.410 I moved to New Orleans in 2014. 00:12:27.410 --> 00:12:32.829 I’m from Venezuela and my country’s consulate had closed down in Miami so I came here to 00:12:32.829 --> 00:12:33.829 get my passport. 00:12:33.829 --> 00:12:38.089 There was also some immigration restrictions that encouraged me to move here. 00:12:38.089 --> 00:12:44.199 A big factor was connected to gentrification, which is moving here because housing was more 00:12:44.199 --> 00:12:50.399 affordable after Katrina and because employment was something I could find here more accessible 00:12:50.399 --> 00:12:52.170 than in South Florida. 00:12:52.170 --> 00:12:58.740 Because of Katrina and the great displacement of local communities after Katrina and during 00:12:58.740 --> 00:13:05.370 Katrina, to be a guest in this city and to be a resident in this city post Katrina, and 00:13:05.370 --> 00:13:10.860 be a respectful guest, you have to be very aware of the racial dynamics of who has been 00:13:10.860 --> 00:13:15.700 displaced and who has been the demographic replacing the people who are no longer able 00:13:15.700 --> 00:13:25.360 to come back to the city, alongside with millions of dynamics that go anywhere from microagressions 00:13:25.360 --> 00:13:30.440 to being a major player of gentrification and in the systems that are negatively impacting 00:13:30.440 --> 00:13:36.020 and negatively affecting the communities here. 00:13:36.020 --> 00:13:42.410 Katrina was also the very first major disaster where Fema came under homeland security. 00:13:42.410 --> 00:13:50.130 The first two weeks after Katrina, it was all about security. 00:13:50.130 --> 00:13:54.910 You know, it felt like all those that matter had left. 00:13:54.910 --> 00:13:58.769 Those who was left in the city, don’t even really matter. 00:13:58.769 --> 00:14:01.029 And they made that crystal clear by their action. 00:14:01.029 --> 00:14:06.240 With that and the advent of disaster capitalism. 00:14:06.240 --> 00:14:15.900 Seeing everything from trash removal, to the removal of bodies- was held up until certain 00:14:15.900 --> 00:14:17.940 individuals got they contracts. 00:14:17.940 --> 00:14:25.649 You had billions of dollars that was allocated to a city with a population of less than half 00:14:25.649 --> 00:14:26.649 a million. 00:14:26.649 --> 00:14:27.649 Billions. 00:14:27.649 --> 00:14:32.600 But it impacted no one that really had the needs. 00:14:32.600 --> 00:14:37.860 The needs of the community have gone unaddressed and instead what has been prioritized has 00:14:37.860 --> 00:14:43.920 been profit and the passing of policies that have been geared towards making profit from 00:14:43.920 --> 00:14:45.670 the displacement of people. 00:14:45.670 --> 00:14:50.210 Looking at prisons and the jail systems now, and how much of the money that the government 00:14:50.210 --> 00:14:58.730 gives is still going towards allegedly restoring or rebuilding or expanding the jail or the 00:14:58.730 --> 00:15:04.520 prisons or rebuilding or expanding new hospitals which are more for profit and they’re not 00:15:04.520 --> 00:15:05.759 as affordable. 00:15:05.759 --> 00:15:11.860 With all these examples you can see how the city systemically is still taking money from 00:15:11.860 --> 00:15:16.949 the disaster and still profiting from the displacement of the community here and investing 00:15:16.949 --> 00:15:22.420 that money in for profit projects that are geared towards tourists or geared towards 00:15:22.420 --> 00:15:29.560 upper class guests or upper class residents as opposed to working class communities and 00:15:29.560 --> 00:15:39.980 poor communities, and particularly communities of colour which was the majority of people 00:15:39.980 --> 00:15:40.980 in New Orleans before Katrina. 00:15:40.980 --> 00:15:41.980 People are being priced out of their homes. 00:15:41.980 --> 00:15:48.930 A unit that was maybe 500 during pre-Katrina, now was somewhere around 12. 00:15:48.930 --> 00:15:55.560 Developers are coming in, and now you have the advent of the Air B&B, you know you have 00:15:55.560 --> 00:16:01.620 a New Orleans that is constantly being transformed around us. 00:16:01.620 --> 00:16:08.950 You see a lot of whites and others coming in to predominantly African American community. 00:16:08.950 --> 00:16:09.950 Directly after Katrina, everybody basically had to evacuate the city. 00:16:09.950 --> 00:16:15.980 A lot of the housing that could have been restored, was not restored. 00:16:15.980 --> 00:16:22.420 Instead it was taken down and new housing that’s not affordable was built up or businesses 00:16:22.420 --> 00:16:23.540 were built up. 00:16:23.540 --> 00:16:28.910 In general, we’ve seen almost no efforts to bring back people that were displaced by 00:16:28.910 --> 00:16:37.779 Katrina, and instead we’re seeing efforts to continue to profit from making more tourist 00:16:37.779 --> 00:16:38.779 hot spots. 00:16:38.779 --> 00:16:42.300 The industry that’s really running the city is tourism. 00:16:42.300 --> 00:16:43.300 White tourism. 00:16:43.300 --> 00:16:45.819 And it’s controlled by white dollars. 00:16:45.819 --> 00:16:51.519 And they control not only the white tourism, but they control about 90 percent of the black 00:16:51.519 --> 00:16:52.519 tourism. 00:16:52.519 --> 00:16:57.420 A lot of the money that’s being given to New Orleans from the government is going to 00:16:57.420 --> 00:17:03.190 the expansion of prisons or the attempts at building new prisons. 00:17:03.190 --> 00:17:08.140 It’s a completely a for-profit organization, so a lot of the money is being either misplaced 00:17:08.140 --> 00:17:18.859 into making more profit from poverty and crime and displacement, or it’s being put into 00:17:18.859 --> 00:17:31.110 development that is to better assist the communities that are not from New Orleans, so it’s being 00:17:31.110 --> 00:17:45.750 put to renovate big businesses or to make the business sectors and the upper class sector 00:17:45.750 --> 00:18:11.620 and the tourism sector in the city better and it’s not being distributed in the places 00:18:11.620 --> 00:18:15.600 that it’s the most needed. 00:18:15.600 --> 00:18:24.340 This is a city that’s ran by the police because it’s ran by tourism. 00:18:24.340 --> 00:18:32.809 And in order for tourism needs to survive, it’s got to be protected. 00:18:32.809 --> 00:18:43.270 But you try to tell the police- it don’t have nowhere near the impact of poverty. 00:18:43.270 --> 00:18:45.760 That’s the most cruel thing. 00:18:45.760 --> 00:18:56.530 You know, you be living on a block, where there only one person got a Mercedes, you 00:18:56.530 --> 00:18:57.530 dig? 00:18:57.530 --> 00:18:58.690 And you catchin’ a bus. 00:18:58.690 --> 00:19:05.480 Ten years ago, the international financial system nearly collapsed. 00:19:05.480 --> 00:19:13.780 A historically unprecedented housing bubble in the United States burst, setting off a 00:19:13.780 --> 00:19:36.250 chain reaction that ended up threatening the institutional pillars of global capitalism 00:19:36.250 --> 00:19:39.630 itself. 00:19:39.630 --> 00:19:52.231 As millions of people lost their homes, governments around the world scrambled to bail out the 00:19:52.231 --> 00:19:57.360 banks and pump money back into the global economy. 00:19:57.360 --> 00:20:00.010 But rather than spending that money on rebuilding the local communities that they'd just destroyed, 00:20:00.010 --> 00:20:02.130 the banks poured that money into a number of so-called 'emerging economies'. 00:20:02.130 --> 00:20:03.130 A prime example being Turkey. 00:20:03.130 --> 00:20:04.720 Back in 2008, Turkey was already in the midst of a construction boom, and the flooding in 00:20:04.720 --> 00:20:05.720 of billions of dollars in foreign investment only quickened the pace. 00:20:05.720 --> 00:20:06.720 In the five years between 2011 and 2016, house prices in Turkey doubled. 00:20:06.720 --> 00:20:07.720 Much of this growth was concentrated in Istanbul, the sprawling metropolis of over 15 million 00:20:07.720 --> 00:20:08.720 people that once served as the capital of the Byzantine and Ottoman Empires, and which 00:20:08.720 --> 00:20:09.720 for over two thousands years has remained the primary bridge between the continents 00:20:09.720 --> 00:20:10.720 of Europe and Asia. 00:20:10.720 --> 00:20:11.720 The dizzying pace of urban transformation in this former Ottoman capital has been closely 00:20:11.720 --> 00:20:12.720 linked to the dictatorial ambitions of the country's president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, 00:20:12.720 --> 00:20:13.720 who has sought to use the reconstruction of Istanbul as a tool for consolidating power 00:20:13.720 --> 00:20:14.720 around a new national identity. 00:20:14.720 --> 00:20:15.720 If we talk about the global capitalist crisis, it’s obvious that the states are trying 00:20:15.720 --> 00:20:16.720 their best to get over this crisis with the tool of urban gentrification because they 00:20:16.720 --> 00:20:17.720 have the companies, they have the law making. 00:20:17.720 --> 00:20:18.720 The capitalization process of Istanbul city is not a new thing, it is a long term project 00:20:18.720 --> 00:20:19.720 of the state. 00:20:19.720 --> 00:20:20.720 We are talking about over 50 years. 00:20:20.720 --> 00:20:21.720 The last 12 years, the process get faster in the government of the AKP. 00:20:21.720 --> 00:20:22.720 These urban gentrification projects always has been resource of income for the state. 00:20:22.720 --> 00:20:23.720 These projects has been widely spread and they started to change the face of the city 00:20:23.720 --> 00:20:24.720 and now they are making it more and more easier to make this. 00:20:24.720 --> 00:20:29.270 In the beginning, it was only possible to destroy that building and make a new one with 00:20:29.270 --> 00:20:33.190 a consensus of all people living in. 00:20:33.190 --> 00:20:40.520 But now, they make it majority of people and the state of emergency also helps to build 00:20:40.520 --> 00:20:44.460 this legal process more and more easier. 00:20:44.460 --> 00:20:50.890 For last four or five years, they are nationalizing the private spaces. 00:20:50.890 --> 00:20:57.450 By these practices, they are trying to change the type of capitalist power. 00:20:57.450 --> 00:21:03.539 It is also politic of homogenizing the people. 00:21:03.539 --> 00:21:11.090 Deleting all cultures and force them to be Muslim, force them to be Sunia Muslim, and 00:21:11.090 --> 00:21:14.929 Turkish people, which is the identity of the state. 00:21:14.929 --> 00:21:23.590 For Istanbul, you can see there are big walls which are coming from Ottoman or Byzantine 00:21:23.590 --> 00:21:24.590 time. 00:21:24.590 --> 00:21:28.809 Out of the walls, they have built the slums. 00:21:28.809 --> 00:21:35.640 The builders of the Gejekondu Areas, slum areas, are so called minorities. 00:21:35.640 --> 00:21:42.070 It’s not just Alevis and Kurds, but also Roma people. 00:21:42.070 --> 00:21:47.790 People who had immigrated from village to big cities like Istanbul. 00:21:47.790 --> 00:21:54.440 From the beginning, these neighbourhoods like Gazi Neighbouhood, like Bir Mayis Neighbourhood, 00:21:54.440 --> 00:21:55.790 and CHKMUNTLU? 00:21:55.790 --> 00:22:02.650 All these neighbourhoods were built with the participation of the whole community. 00:22:02.650 --> 00:22:06.260 And caring and thinking about of all the needs of that community. 00:22:06.260 --> 00:22:13.150 So, these slums means more than just spaces to live, but it’s also a way of relationship 00:22:13.150 --> 00:22:18.000 that people are caring about each other. 00:22:18.000 --> 00:22:27.529 During 1960’s and 1980’s, many revolutionary organizations have appeared, and this is important 00:22:27.529 --> 00:22:35.179 because next residents of these regions will be the organizers of the first actions against 00:22:35.179 --> 00:22:41.610 the destruction policy of the state. 00:22:41.610 --> 00:23:06.640 The Taksim riots started against the construction of a mall. 00:23:06.640 --> 00:23:10.420 The Gezi Park protests became so popular. 00:23:10.420 --> 00:23:24.080 The rioters of Taksim/Gezi achieved the collectivization of the park, and this is a great example of 00:23:24.080 --> 00:23:31.350 how we can struggle against the gentrification politics, against the space politics of the 00:23:31.350 --> 00:23:32.710 states and the companies. 00:23:32.710 --> 00:23:38.950 The meaning of the park, the meaning of the space has been changed. 00:23:38.950 --> 00:23:46.990 People got the control of the park and the space has a political meaning. 00:23:46.990 --> 00:23:57.980 When we look what happened after Gezi, that riots, the people coming together and the 00:23:57.980 --> 00:24:00.680 occupation of the Gezi Park becomes something to hold and many people go on resisting after 00:24:00.680 --> 00:24:03.500 the Gezi Park was evicted. 00:24:03.500 --> 00:24:13.090 The social resistance was very high and people were not afraid to go on the streets anymore, 00:24:13.090 --> 00:24:26.809 and that also affected in a way urban gentrification protests and many other protests, but as the 00:24:26.809 --> 00:24:31.700 oppression become more and more visible, and that social opposition became less and less 00:24:31.700 --> 00:24:37.790 seen, that also has its effects on urban gentrification. 00:24:37.790 --> 00:24:41.390 During one week, the Turkish state have been killed over 10 young people. 00:24:41.390 --> 00:24:48.360 We are not just talking about of a day, we are talking about years where people have 00:24:48.360 --> 00:24:53.190 been oppressed politically, socially and economically. 00:24:53.190 --> 00:24:59.790 One of the first things that they are trying to break is the relationship in these neighbourhoods. 00:24:59.790 --> 00:25:03.450 The culture of resistance and the culture of solidarity. 00:25:03.450 --> 00:25:10.380 It is not just a struggle against the gentrification projects. 00:25:10.380 --> 00:25:20.880 It is against the violence and the terror of the state. 00:25:20.880 --> 00:25:24.320 These days, gentrification can often seem inevitable. 00:25:24.320 --> 00:25:29.039 It is, after all, a constant process firmly anchored upon the sanctity of private property 00:25:29.039 --> 00:25:36.880 and the unshakeable logic of the free market. 00:25:36.880 --> 00:25:45.289 According to this cold logic, homes, and the land that they are built on, are commodities 00:25:45.289 --> 00:25:46.429 like any other. 00:25:46.429 --> 00:25:50.030 It follows, then, that they can be bought and sold... and if the people living there 00:25:50.030 --> 00:25:52.980 don't hold the deed, there's not much they can do to stop it. 00:25:52.980 --> 00:25:55.899 Except, of course, there is. 00:25:55.899 --> 00:26:00.380 Because despite what capitalist may claim, our homes are not commodities like any other. 00:26:00.380 --> 00:26:02.340 They’re much more than that. 00:26:02.340 --> 00:26:07.030 People defending their homes have been primary agents of struggle for the entirety of human 00:26:07.030 --> 00:26:08.030 history. 00:26:08.030 --> 00:26:11.970 From anti-colonial struggles waged by Indigenous nations, to peasants taking up arms to defend 00:26:11.970 --> 00:26:16.270 their lands from enclosure and theft... people tend to fight hard for their homes. 00:26:16.270 --> 00:26:19.980 And while things in cities are different, and often much more complicated... the basic 00:26:19.980 --> 00:26:21.500 principle is the same. 00:26:21.500 --> 00:26:27.000 I think that it’s important for revolutionaries and for anti-capitalists and anarchists who 00:26:27.000 --> 00:26:31.370 want to fight a process like gentrification which is multifaceted to actually be embedded 00:26:31.370 --> 00:26:33.870 in the communities that are affected by gentrification. 00:26:33.870 --> 00:26:38.440 The only way of actually stopping gentrification is getting out in front of it, and in order 00:26:38.440 --> 00:26:42.789 to get out in front of it, you need to actually be living there. 00:26:42.789 --> 00:26:46.679 You need to have social relationships with the people who are going to be displaced, 00:26:46.679 --> 00:26:48.840 and you need to help with them to fight. 00:26:48.840 --> 00:26:52.140 And you know this is not, the sexiest type of work. 00:26:52.140 --> 00:26:58.049 You have to come in very humble and really try and support the work that’s being done 00:26:58.049 --> 00:27:03.159 by the people that are the most affected and not trying to come into anyone’s community 00:27:03.159 --> 00:27:07.789 with like a saviour complex, especially if you’re white, to try and fix people’s 00:27:07.789 --> 00:27:11.970 problems because usually there’s been communities of people that have been facing those issues 00:27:11.970 --> 00:27:15.650 for decades, if not hundreds of years. 00:27:15.650 --> 00:27:22.270 I think that the left are often looking for shortcuts. 00:27:22.270 --> 00:27:29.179 Unfortunately, currently, the left is largely based around academic spaces and, you know, 00:27:29.179 --> 00:27:34.279 is not necessarily associated with the fabric of working class people’s lives. 00:27:34.279 --> 00:27:39.330 Ground level tenant driven organizing in buildings is what’s actually making a lot of change. 00:27:39.330 --> 00:27:43.929 People in their building can work together build a moment, and fight in a way that they 00:27:43.929 --> 00:27:49.600 can stop these companies from exploiting them and kick them out of their homes. 00:27:49.600 --> 00:27:54.360 Hundreds of residents here in Parkdale are heading into their second month refusing to 00:27:54.360 --> 00:27:57.210 pay rent in protest of rent hikes 00:27:57.210 --> 00:28:02.919 Build working class organizations that are independent from politicians, social service 00:28:02.919 --> 00:28:04.490 agencies, or non-profits. 00:28:04.490 --> 00:28:10.260 You can’t be beholden to anybody’s interests other than our own. 00:28:10.260 --> 00:28:16.190 It’s not going to be benevolent on the part of landlords, or a change of heart on the 00:28:16.190 --> 00:28:27.789 part of policy makers that’s going to lead to the types of changes that tenants need 00:28:27.789 --> 00:28:28.789 to see. 00:28:28.789 --> 00:28:29.789 You have to create your daily life against system. 00:28:29.789 --> 00:28:30.789 You have to organize your own ways with people that are not like the capitalist relationships. 00:28:30.789 --> 00:28:31.789 You have to create solidarity. 00:28:31.789 --> 00:28:32.789 You have to care about each other. 00:28:32.789 --> 00:28:33.789 You have to take the responsibility of each other and you have to be organized, thinking 00:28:33.789 --> 00:28:41.940 about the needs of your community and the people in your community. 00:28:41.940 --> 00:28:52.039 That comes with responsibility of constantly trying to bring visibility and attention and 00:28:52.039 --> 00:28:56.970 voice and power to the people who are actually affected by the injustices. 00:28:56.970 --> 00:29:02.550 Fighting for ways that people can live affordably in cities and build communities there, for 00:29:02.550 --> 00:29:06.080 social purposes rather than for capitalist accumulation. 00:29:06.080 --> 00:29:12.111 People tend to be much more satisfied to just gripe about things as they exist, than to 00:29:12.111 --> 00:29:16.919 actually try to seek out and understand what is fuelling the process and how they might 00:29:16.919 --> 00:29:19.029 actually go about trying to stop it. 00:29:19.029 --> 00:29:22.000 Housing is allocated by the market, it’s not allocated according to social need. 00:29:22.000 --> 00:29:25.750 And so, this is why you have these constant and persistent problems that don’t seem 00:29:25.750 --> 00:29:26.960 to go away. 00:29:26.960 --> 00:29:34.029 Don’t be trapped in the dead ends presented to us by political and legal systems. 00:29:34.029 --> 00:29:37.690 We need to find our own ways to creatively struggle in our own interests. 00:29:37.690 --> 00:29:54.179 Everyday with your every action, you have to fight against, you have to create for your 00:29:54.179 --> 00:29:55.179 struggle. 00:29:55.179 --> 00:29:59.500 Giving struggle against the strategies of the companies but also strategies of the state. 00:29:59.500 --> 00:30:05.790 And the state- it is an enemy that we have to struggle. 00:30:05.790 --> 00:30:09.500 Not just urban development projects - every front. 00:30:09.500 --> 00:30:11.350 You know, let the fire burn. 00:30:11.350 --> 00:30:14.390 They ashes is good for cultivating the land. 00:30:14.390 --> 00:30:16.220 You dig? 00:30:16.220 --> 00:30:23.560 And I’m just plant a lot of seed. 00:30:23.560 --> 00:30:27.230 Grow something else up. 00:30:27.230 --> 00:30:31.600 In our hyper-atomized and individualistic societies, we have become incredibly isolated 00:30:31.600 --> 00:30:33.660 and alienated from one another. 00:30:33.660 --> 00:30:38.049 Those of us living in multi-residential apartment blocks can often go years without communicating 00:30:38.049 --> 00:30:41.280 with our neighbours, beyond the occasional small-chat when getting on the elevator. 00:30:41.280 --> 00:30:45.720 We're conditioned to keep our noses out of other people's business, and to call the cops 00:30:45.720 --> 00:30:49.700 if we see someone loitering, or if the neighbours play their music too loud. 00:30:49.700 --> 00:30:54.720 This divide and conquer strategy is intended to keep us weak, and incapable of mounting 00:30:54.720 --> 00:30:55.909 collective resistance to shared hardships. 00:30:55.909 --> 00:31:01.039 So if we are to avoid the future that capitalists have in store for us, in which our cities 00:31:01.039 --> 00:31:02.169 are even further transformed into geographically segregated and heavily militarized urban enclaves 00:31:02.169 --> 00:31:08.920 of poverty and wealth, this is a mentality we must overcome. 00:31:08.920 --> 00:31:14.669 So at this point, we’d like to remind you that Trouble is intended to be watched in 00:31:14.669 --> 00:31:18.460 groups, and to be used as a resource to promote discussion and collective organizing. 00:31:18.460 --> 00:31:23.260 Are you interested in organizing your building, or starting a collective to fight gentrification 00:31:23.260 --> 00:31:24.279 in your neighbourhood? 00:31:24.279 --> 00:31:28.100 Consider getting together with some comrades, organizing a screening of this film, and discussing 00:31:28.100 --> 00:31:29.310 where to get started. 00:31:29.310 --> 00:31:33.179 Interested in running regular screenings of Trouble at your campus, infoshop, community 00:31:33.179 --> 00:31:35.309 center, or even just at home with friends? 00:31:35.309 --> 00:31:36.309 Become a Trouble-Maker! 00:31:36.309 --> 00:31:40.090 For 10 bucks a month, we’ll hook you up with an advanced copy of the show, and a screening 00:31:40.090 --> 00:31:43.760 kit featuring additional resources and some questions you can use to get a discussion 00:31:43.760 --> 00:31:44.760 going. 00:31:44.760 --> 00:31:46.720 If you can’t afford to support us financially, no worries! 00:31:46.720 --> 00:31:51.100 You can stream and/or download all our content for free off our website: sub.media/trouble. 00:31:51.100 --> 00:31:58.139 If you’ve got any suggestions for show topics, or just want to get in touch, drop us a line 00:31:58.139 --> 00:31:59.600 at trouble@sub.media. 00:31:59.600 --> 00:32:21.039 Stay tuned next month for our second installment in this two-part series, as we take a look 00:32:21.039 --> 00:32:25.790 at three more cities facing the onslaught of gentrification, and how people there are 00:32:25.790 --> 00:32:27.690 fighting back. 00:32:27.690 --> 00:32:49.409 This episode would not have been possible without the generous support of Fernando, 00:32:49.409 --> 00:32:51.420 and Miki. 00:32:51.420 --> 00:33:01.260 Now get out there, and make some trouble!