Super In-Tent City, Victoria
In Victoria Alliance Against Displacement works with SIC Society (formed by residents of Super InTent City, a tent city that operated from 2015-2016), others who are homeless or precariously housing (including those living in punitive “supportive” housing), and housed supporters such as those involved in Homes Not Hate. Our focus is ending violence against people living in poverty, especially violence caused by governments, cops, and social workers, which takes the form of criminalization, containment, surveillance, and other systematic means of marginalizing, excluding, and punishing people for being poor.
There have been many tent cities in Victoria over the past 6 years, reflecting the daily displacement and criminalization of homeless people and the failure of government programs that are more about managing and concealing homelessness than ending it. Super InTent City and SIC Society show the power of unhoused people to politically unite and manage their own homes and lives. Even though Super InTent City was forcibly dismantled in August 2016, the struggle continues and people continue to organize. Visit intentcity.ca for ongoing news.
For more information and analysis about organizing by SIC Society and AAD in Victoria, take a look at the following articles published in The Volcano.
Social work as social control: By Joshua Goldberg & Flora Pagan