Angelenos fight Wildfires, Capitalism’s Vultures
Disastrous fires around Los Angeles are forcing people to fight over the area’s future, now. On January 7 and 8, fires erupted in the L.A. communities of Palisades, Altadena, Hollywood and Sylmar. In Palisades and Altadena more than 16,000 structures burned and 27 people died. Tens of thousands instantly became homeless. Many also lost their jobs and businesses. Some blamed the winds that hit over 80 miles an hour or dryness produced by 2024’s hottest summer in the city’s history.
But those weren’t the actual cause, only its effects. High winds, hurricanes, floods and dry conditions have come and gone for thousands of years, but now they’re whipped into unprecedented disasters through climate change. Scientists around the world have verified that climate change was provoked by industrial capitalism’s deadly levels of carbon emissions. By incorporating the power of new technologies like AI into this old industrial system, elites amass unimaginable profits and wealth while stimulating more catastrophes worldwide. That is producing more poverty, homelessness and migration for billions of people.
L.A. residents are fighting off capitalist vultures swooping down to feed on the catastrophe. Speculators make unsolicited low-price offers to buy burnt homes in cash. Landlords raise rents to gouge fire refugees, and stores raise prices on food and supplies needed for repairs. Outraged groups and individuals demanded that California governor Gavin Newsom act and he issued orders banning the worst abuses. The fight for immediate shelter and survival then quickly became a fight for future reconstruction in the interests of the public as developers and financiers prepared to profit by gentrifying burnt communities.
Altadena is at the cutting edge of this struggle for the future. It is rich in residents of all colors ready to take a stand. With one of the highest percentages of Black residents outside South Central L.A., there are activists who have fought against discriminatory speculation, police abuse and poverty. Struggles there overlap into neighboring Pasadena, which is also home to politically active immigrant-rights groups whose members lost their work as housecleaners, gardeners and caregivers at homes that burned down. Both towns also have unusually high numbers of socially aware artists, media workers, scientists, college faculty and students ready to join the struggle.
What immediate issues and political ideas will they rally around? As neighbors share their worries and hopes about community recovery, there is tremendous openness to new ideas about the future, social classes and public vs. private ownership. But America’s new fascists will surely try to stifle that. Rally-Agrupémonos will share the progress of this historic battle with our readers.
Published on February 7, 2025
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