Ep.46 “Land for People, Not for Profit” How Unhoused People in Cape Town Turned an Abandoned Hospital into a Community

Cissie Gool House was an abandoned hospital in Cape Town, South Africa, empty and decaying for 40 years, when homeless activists snuck past security on the night of March 27, 2017, and began an occupation that, seven years later, has transformed it into a vibrant self-governing community of 1,000 formerly homeless, evicted, and displaced people. Two leaders of Cissie Gool House, Karen Hendricks and Fagmeedah Ling, join host Desire Wandan to discuss how the residents themselves renovated the building, set up working committees to deal with elder, youth, maintenance and security issues, and expanded their occupation into a movement that now convenes “Peoples’ Assemblies” to teach others about tenants’ rights, fights evictions, monitors the housing courts, and agitates for enforcement of South Africa’s constitution, which declares that, “everyone has the right to have access to adequate housing.”

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4iG4wYQeu0&t=12s

This 6-minute clip explains the occupation and features Karen

 

This is the website link to Reclaim The City: https://reclaimthecity.org.za/

 

An NPR article about the three occupations part of Reclaim the City.

https://news.wjct.org/2022-12-24/inside-south-africas-hijacked-buildings-all-we-want-is-a-place-to-call-home

 

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Welcome to All Power to the Developing, a podcast of the East Side Institute. The Institute is a center for social change efforts that reinitiate human and community development. We support, connect, and partner with committed and creative activists, scholars, artists, helpers, and healers all over the world. In 2003, Institute co-founders Lois Holzman and the late Fred Newman had a paper published with the title “All Power to the Developing.” This phrase captures how vital it is for all people—no matter their age, circumstance, status, race, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation—to grow, develop and transform emotionally, socially and intellectually if we are to have a shot at creating something positive out of the intense crises we’re all experiencing. We hope that this podcast series will show you that, far more than a slogan, “all power to the developing” is a loving activity, a pulsing heart in an all too cruel world.

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The East Side Institute is a hub for a diverse and emergent community of social activists, thought leaders, and practitioners who are reigniting our human abilities to imagine, create and perform beyond ourselves—to develop.  Each episode will introduce you to another performance activist or play revolutionary from around the world.

 

To learn more about the East Side Institute you can go to https://eastsideinstitute.org/

 

Made possible in part by Growing Social Therapeutics: The Baylah Wolfe Fund.