Hi everyone! Now, firstly I'd like to apologise once again for not updating this blog in ages... I'm in Copenhagen, and before I was in Copenhagen I was preparing for my trip, so I haven't had a huge amount of time. I'd also like to update people on the Denmark teacher lockout which I talked about last time. The teachers were eventually let back into their schools, but the Government are still planning to go through with their regime. It makes me annoyed, but hopefully something will thwart this Government, as has happened so many times before.
Now, this blog is about something that is almost too obvious for me to explain my viewpoint for, but I simply had to write a blog about it because every time I read an article about this, I physically tremble with anger. Recently (I can't find an article that says the date, but all the articles seem to be from today, so I presume it was last night) the police in Ilford raided a homeless shelter and stole the food and sleeping bags that the people there had. The food parcels had been donated by members of the public.
I actually can't put into words how angry this makes me. I think 'ad infinitum' is the most accurate way of describing it. I am absolutely fuming that the police assumed the right to do this. Their reasoning is that they are 'reducing the negative impact of rough sleepers'. Never mind that homeless people are members of the public as well. It seems as though being homeless is becoming a crime. Homeless people are seen as less than human, and something that we need to get rid of. I don't understand why there seems to be this idea that they all chose to be homeless. It weirdly reminds me of when I saw the stage show of Annie a few years ago, and the character of Miss Hannigan uttered the line, 'Why any kid would want to be an orphan is beyond me.' At the time, my best friend and I laughed about it, but looking at a situation like this, it appears that some people actually think like that. It appears that the authorities in Ilford believe that its homeless population chose to be homeless, in the same way as Miss Hannigan apparently thinks that the children chose to be orphans under her care. Both notions are ridiculous, of course.
Homelessness is a huge issue in the world today, particularly in the UK where it is difficult at the moment to earn money and to get benefits. I completely support sorting it out, but confiscating the few things that these people have to live on is obviously not the way. If homelessness is such a a huge problem (and it is, but not for the reasons the police say), why did the new law about squatting come in last September? Why isn't the Government actually finding somewhere where these people can go, and helping them get into education or a trade and off the streets? The way to deal with homelessness seems to be, just move them on for someone else to put up with, and make them as uncomfortable as possible in the meantime. Learning that this sort of thing is going on in my country makes me ashamed to be British, it really does.
Occasionally when I hear about something, I feel a tremendous desire to do something to prevent it from happening again. Obviously, I'm writing this blog post, but I want to do more than this. I think that John Fish (who authorised this) and the officers who actually carried it out should be sacked. My friend Sofina suggested that I start a petition about it, and I think that that's a really splendid idea and I have a good mind to do it actually. I've done some quick Googling, and there doesn't seem to be any petition at the moment, so maybe I will create one. I haven't actually created a petition for an issue like this before, but someone has to do it, and it looks as though it may fall on me this time. If I create one, I'll post the link up here so people can sign it.
Thanks to Declan, who told me about this issue, and to Sofina who suggested creating the petition. And thank you to anyone else who has read it, and I apologise if this blog post has upset anyone - it probably is the most disturbing blog I have ever written. If anyone has any more suggestions of things we can all do to make sure that this NEVER HAPPENS AGAIN, please leave a comment in the box below. Send me any general comments about my blog as well.
