Posted by nullthread on Dec 23, 2021
This comics is pretty much why this comradery exists. This is what you're funding in a way. I'm making art for a local tenant union - and this comic was made to reflect back the real interactions a group of tenants had with their rude and neglectful landlord. It's going in a newsletter where tenants share information, experiences and organizing skills. Where we coordinate offense, following the lead of the affected first.
The tenants we've been canvassing and organizing with are mainly working class, immigrants, ESL, sometimes undocumented, and people of color. With their many marginalizations and financial precarity, the landlord knows they have the upper hand. So instead of fixing up things they are legally required to do so, they intimidate and ignore tenants and deflect any responsibility away from themselves or their management company. They blame roaches on the tenants. They withhold services out of spite or greed, like picking up the trash and getting rid of vermin. Did you know that mold makes you cough out blood? Or that roaches can get stuck in your ear?
The department responsible for tenant law and building code enforcement is frequently unresponsive. Even with coordinated form and phone "zaps" from tenants directly infested with roaches, mold, and broken plumbing or heating, they still don't listen. No one can hold landlords accountable. The strength of the laws that favor capitalists is just too great. The landlord's business is making the most out of rent and spending the least on maintanence; the tenant union's business is to build people power against this basic capitalistic mechanic. Safe, stable and healthy housing is a human right - and profit should never cut into that.