The City is For All explained

The City is For All (Hungarian: A Város Mindenkié) is a volunteer based grassroots organization founded in 2009. It operates in Budapest and Pécs in Hungary. Homeless (currently or past) and non-homeless activists work together for housing rights and social justice.

The organization operates as an informal advocacy group. It is an independent group that depends on the volunteer work contribution and financial support of its members. The group represents a wide range of people living in poverty and/or homelessness. The group's goal is to empower homeless people to stand up for their human dignity and to fight for right to housing. Homeless people play a leading role in all aspects of the group.

History

The City is For All was formed with homeless and non-homeless participants of a workshop held by Picture The Homeless from New York, after their visit to Budapest in August, 2009.[1] [2] The workshops were financially supported by the Projects for Peace initiative.[3] A second group was later set up in Pécs, another Hungarian city.[4]

The founding of the organization has been inspired by the Right to the city concept formulated by Henri Lefebvre and David Harvey, and the organization is a member of the Hungarian Right to the City alliance.[5]

The group is totally volunteer run and as of 2018 had around 50 participants, of whom 80% were either homeless or had previously been homeless.[6]

Other organizations have begun within The City is For All and then spun off into their own remit. 'From the Streets into Housing' (Hungarian: Utcáról Lakásba Egyesület) is a group which takes on empty apartments and converts them into social housing. As of March 2019, From the Streets into Housing was managing 23 flats in Budapest. 'The School For Public Life' (Hungarian: Közélet Iskolája) trains activists in organization skills, using computers and speaking English. Having been an internal City is For All project for five years, the school then broadened its operations to working with people from other groups. 'Street Lawyers' provides voluntary legal support and advice. This group began in 2010, when people would go to Blaha Lujza Square every Friday afternoon to offer legal support to homeless people.

Activities

The City is for All regularly organizes events that contribute to the protection of homeless people's rights, advocate for their interests, and change the social perception of homeless people. The group has been involved in an anti-eviction campaign, including civil disobedience against forced evictions.[7] [8] [9] [10] [11]

The group frequently appears in the media in order to change the misconception that homeless people are incapable and hopeless.[12] [13] [14] [15]

This City is For All works together with other grassroots organizations representing the concerns of marginalized and oppressed groups. It cultivates international connections as well, exemplified by participation in the European Social Forum, in the Social Action Exchange project,[16] in the International Alliance of Inhabitants[17] or a discussion of student and homeless activists with American geographer Neil Smith and Canadian academic Deborah E. Cowen in 2010.[18] The group participated in the 2009 FEANTSA conference "Sharing the power – working together: Participation as a tool to solve homelessness" in Copenhagen[19] [20] and in the 2010 University of Barcelona – Associació Prohabitatge – FEANTSA conference "Housing Rights: from Theory to Practice" in Barcelona.[21]

In June 2010, the group held a workshop for Slovenian social workers and homeless people on self-organizing at a conference organized by Slovenian street newspaper NGO Kings of the Street.[22]

Justice on the Streets was a participatory action research inquiry run by City is For All between 2011 and 2013. The project collected data related and studied personal experiences of homeless regarding discrimination against by the representatives of the Hungarian state in Budapest.[23]

On 19 January 2013 thirty housing activists were arrested on misdemeanor charges for disobeying police orders after they had squatted an empty house in the Erzsébetváros district of Budapest. The City is For All supported the demands of the activists to put the derelict house back into use.[24]

The City is For All combined with FEANTSA again later in 2013, to organise a one-day seminar entitled 'Promoting Housing rights in Hungary'.[25]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Picture the Homeless blog on their Hungarian workshops . 5 July 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090923211730/http://www.picturethehomeless.org/blog/hungary . 23 September 2009 . live .
  2. Web site: Picture the Homeless speaks about their Hungarian experiences in New York (The Indypendent article) . 5 July 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120307124809/http://www.indypendent.org/2009/09/09/homeless-in-hungary/ . 7 March 2012 . live .
  3. Web site: Davis Projects for Peace project: Bringing the Bronx to Budapest . 5 July 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110725222218/http://www.davisprojectsforpeace.org/projects/2009/node/686 . 25 July 2011 . live .
  4. Web site: A Város Mindenkié: resisting homelessness and housing crisis in Hungary . Cooperative city . 14 March 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200314155300/https://cooperativecity.org/2019/03/03/a-varos-mindenkie-resisting-homelessness-and-housing-crisis-in-hungary/ . 14 March 2020 . en.
  5. http://righttothecity.hu/index.php/resources#budapestcsoportok/ Right to the City – Jogunk a Városhoz
  6. Web site: The City is For All . Guerrilla Foundation . 14 March 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200314152534/https://guerrillafoundation.org/grantee/the-city-is-for-all/ . 14 March 2020 . en.
  7. http://www.habitants.org/news/inhabitants_of_europe/budapest_may_27_housing_not_walls! News on the group's anti-eviction campaign on the homepage of the International Alliance of Inhabitants
  8. Web site: "We are poor, but not criminals" (Article from hirszerzo.hu – in Hungarian) . 5 July 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20100516035854/http://www.hirszerzo.hu/cikk.szegenyek_vagyunk_nem_bunozok_-_galeriank.150832.html . 16 May 2010 . live .
  9. Web site: Anti-eviction protestors taken away by police (Article from blikk.hu – in Hungarian) . 5 July 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20100703074527/http://www.blikk.hu/blikk_aktualis/elvittek-a-rendorok-a-kilakoltatas-ellen-tiltakozokat-2018425/ . 3 July 2010 . live .
  10. Web site: "We won't go anywhere, the family has nowhere to go either" (A video of a direct action from index.hu – in Hungarian) . 5 July 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20121012163413/http://index.hu/video/2010/05/13/nem_megyunk_sehova_vargaeknak_sincs_hova/ . 12 October 2012 . live .
  11. Web site: A post on the All for Taking about a direct action . 5 July 2010 . https://archive.today/20120708020221/http://allforthetaking.org/protest-against-evictions-hungary . 8 July 2012 . dead .
  12. Web site: Video of a protest against spatial exclusion of homeless people (from hvg.hu – in Hungarian) . 5 July 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110928034027/http://hvg.hu/itthon/20091019_hajlektalan . 28 September 2011 . live .
  13. http://index.hu/video/2009/10/19/molnar_gyula_alteregoja_mashogy_kezelne_a_hajlektalan_problemat/ Another video of a protest against spatial exclusion of homeless people (from index.hu – in Hungarian)
  14. Web site: An article in the conservative daily newspaper Magyar Nemzet (in Hungarian) . 5 July 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110728053754/http://www.magyarnemzet.hu/portal/670121 . 28 July 2011 . live .
  15. Web site: An article in the liberal daily newspaper Népszabadság (in Hungarian) . 5 July 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090803183258/http://nol.hu/archivum/20090801-new_yorkbol_jonnek_kepezni_a_magyar_hajlektalanokat . 3 August 2009 . live .
  16. Web site: Jewish Leadership/Social Action Exchange 2009-11 . 26 August 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110708063200/http://socialactionexchange.blogspot.com/ . 8 July 2011 . live .
  17. http://eng.habitants.org/news/inhabitants_of_europe/almost_all_evictions_banned_in_hungary (Almost all) Evictions banned in Hungary (article in IAA homapege)
  18. Web site: Beszélgetés Neil Smith professzorral (In Hungarian) . 23 August 2010 . https://archive.today/20120710064818/http://avarosmindenkie.blog.hu/2010/06/14/beszelgetes_neil_smith_professzorral . 10 July 2012 . live .
  19. Web site: A group member speaks about the conference . 26 August 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20121110025806/http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xbjjg5_feedback-corner-english-feantsa-con_news . 10 November 2012 . live .
  20. Web site: Sharing the power – working together: Participation as a tool to solve homelessness (FEANTSA homepage) . 26 August 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110718135952/http://www.feantsa.org/code/en/theme.asp?ID=40 . 18 July 2011 . dead .
  21. Web site: Housing Rights Watch Conference – Housing Rights: from Theory to Practice. Barcelona, Spain 6 May 2010. . 26 August 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110816024638/http://feantsa.horus.be/code/EN/pg.asp?Page=1262 . 16 August 2011 . dead .
  22. Web site: Slovenia: Conference on social exclusion, poverty and homelessness . 26 August 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110718140003/http://www.feantsa.org/code/en/pg.asp?Page=24&pk_id_news=3595 . 18 July 2011 . dead .
  23. UDVARHELYI . ÉVA TESSZA . JUSTICE THE ON THE STREETS PRODUCTION OF CRITICAL KNOWLEDGE THROUGH PARTICIPATORY ACTION RESEARCH WITH HOMELESS PEOPLE IN BUDAPEST . socio.hu . 2013 . 10.18030/socio.hu.2013en.43 .
  24. Web site: Thirty housing rights activists were arrested in Budapest / Inhabitants of Europe / News / Home – International Alliance of Inhabitants . habitants.org . 14 March 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200314161111/https://www.habitants.org/news/inhabitants_of_europe/thirty_housing_rights_activists_were_arrested_in_budapest . 14 March 2020 . en.
  25. Web site: What’s the answer to Hungary’s homeless problems? An effective right to housing, not the criminalisation and persecution of homeless people. Cittaslow International . cittaslow.org . 14 March 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200314152120/https://www.cittaslow.org/news/whats-answer-hungarys-homeless-problems-effective-right-housing-not-criminalisation-and . 14 March 2020 . en.

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