Together
funeral veils after violent eviction of 88 Hardinge St @AutonomousWinterShelter
June 2023
@ohseven4
The core building of @AutonomousWinterShelter was violently evicted
The core building of @AutonomousWinterShelter Network -88 Hardinge St- was violently evicted by Riot Police on 1st of June 2023. 40 persons were living there. and many more using the facilities, or gathering in the common areas.
https://novaramedia.com/2023/06/12/did-the-police-illegally-evict-a-homeless-shelter/
U can read lots of articles on this dreadful event, none of which will retranscript the trauma and further grief that this sadistic violence left in each of the evictee's hearts and bodies but also as an injury within the group.
The amount of stress people were under is unimaginable, it teared people apart- through internal overwhelming quarrels, burnouts and desire for isolation.
A post eviction atelier took place, as a Trauma funeral ceremonial for the group to gather and heal. Hopefully reunite. Hopefully move on.
Words were:
We grieved because it’s healthy but trust that we won’t spend years doing it, they want to erase us and isolate us and keep us sad, but beware we’ll grow joyful again, gather again, house each other again.
🔥🖤
.
Some evictees of @autonomouswintershelter chose words which expressed how they felt when thinking about the eviction and sewed it on funeral veils.
Words were :
Brutal, loss, anger, rage, together, until all are housed, everything for everyone, panic attack, robbed, overwhelmed, fear, ambushed, state violence, acab, under attack, resistance, joy, sad, power play, hospital, nightmare , heartless, inhuman, grief, frustration, squat the lot, you can’t hide the homeless, fuck off
🖤
In livid memory of all brutalised, beaten up, bullied out of the place they made into home.
Grieving with others is a way to exteriorize feelings, gather, say goodbye, grow stronger, look for ways to move past things, and overall see once more that we’re not alone and we should stick together.
@m.s.241310
@ombeline_ombeline
" 'You are very crafty, we’ve seen the things you’ve built inside, why don’t you make some leashes?' Said the cops to us with a smirk, when we were begging them to at least let us take the dog leashes.
They were happy with themselves. Proud to terrorise the houseless."
@guy.smallman
@guy.smallman
@ombeline_ombeline
@guy.smallman
@guy.smallman
A testimony of an evictee of AWS:
“It’s been three weeks since they took our home. Our belongings along with our home were taken too. Many people didn’t get to pack anything from their rooms. Anything at all.
“Nevertheless, amidst this devastation, we exhibited resilience and resourcefulness. We engaged in the act of creation, forging new items and rebuilding our lives from the ashes of our previous existence.We made new things.”
@ohseven4
@ombeline_ombeline
@ombeline_ombeline
@guy.smallman
"It was a terrible day. We got fucked. And we didn’t get to rest either. Stripped of our blankets, sleeping bags, and other essential items, we were denied the opportunity to find solace and rest.”
@ombeline_ombeline
@ohseven4
"I sewed my nightmares in the mask, I talked about them, while we were going through every single emotion with my comrades.”
@ombeline_ombeline
“Our lives are deemed ungrievable, but grieving at times like this is a politically necessary act."
@ohseven4
@guy.smallman
'Until All Are Housed'
@ombeline_ombeline
"Like songs of sorrow sung together, we sewed our veils in a grief shared in connection."
“I’ve been having nightmares every night since then. Nightmares of eviction. Nightmares of losing my home, visions of the street full of bags and luggages, nightmares of losing our pets in evictions… every night."
@ombeline_ombeline
"No matter how much they try to erase us, isolate us, and keep us depoliticised, we will still find our way to each other, hold each other’s hands, and rebel again."
@ohseven4
@guy.smallman
"When going through things collectively, almost nothing can be unbearable."
@m.s.241310
“I was reading a bit about mourning and these lines are not mine but they resonated with me a lot:
‘Mourning can pry open spaces of contestation and reconstruction, empathy and solidarity.
Vulnerability and tenderness for each other and public grievability for life itself are some of the most profound acts of community resistance.
@guy.smallman
@ombeline_ombeline
We shared the burden of grief to reconfigure our pain into a powerful force for social change and collective healing. From tears come the resolve of the struggle ahead. The power of grief as a catalyst to collective resistance.’ “
@ombeline_ombeline
@guy.smallman
@guy.smallman