Saturday 19 September 2009

Protest at the City Council


Members of Warsaw ZSP who are part of the Tenants' Defence Committee visited the Warsaw City Council again Sept. 17. The Tenants have made legal motions to rescind two resolutions made by the City Council. The latest resolution, concerning the maximum income limits to qualify for public housing was made after the Vice President president inaccurate information at the Council just before the vote. This is still under investigation by the Council Ethics Committee. However the Council is dominated by the neoliberals. The President of the City has intervened on behalf of the Vice President, whose dismissal was demanded by tenants. In the meanwhile. part of the council opposed to the neoliberals moved to dismiss the Council Chairwoman but the vote was shot down.
Tenants are intent on either getting the resolutions overturned or getting rid of the neoliberals. Various groups have already announced that they would like to organize for a referendum to dismiss the President.


We believe that such steps can only reform but in the situation where thousands of people will be made homeless by bad city policy and the city is building slums with containers, reform is clearly necessary. At the same time, we encourage the tenants to organize themselves and take direct action. There is a long way to go however before we win big victories by those means. In the meanwhile, each protest appearance we make is a thorn in the side of the profiteers and politicians who no longer have any comfort zone to work in.

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