Double, double, toil and trouble...

'Double, double, toil and trouble: Fire, burn, and cauldron, bubble.'
-The Witches, 4.1, Macbeth

Not in eighty years have the conditions for global revolution been so ripe. A glance at the following thirteen headlines, taken together, should be enough to alarm anyone with synaptic activity that revolutionary consciousness is awakening internationally.

Why now? Because never has so much affluence been lost in the Western standard of living than in the period we are currently experiencing. And things will get worse. The rich will get richer, the poor will get poorer and the middle class is quickly disappearing.

The more protests and demonstrations, the better; the quicker the Masters of the Universe will get the message that they cannot rule people who are unwilling to be impoverished for the coffers of the Elite. Capitalism is dying an ugly death; but in the end, people will not care about ideology - they will care about the decline in the stardard of living to which they have become accustomed.

People are about to change the Darwinistic political/economic paradigm that has dominated earth for so long. And there will be blood.

Truly wise Masters of the Universe would act now to eliminate the suffering of ordinary people. However, it does seem we are ruled by madmen. Time for a challenge to the status quo; and the cauldron is seething.

Injustice boils in men's hearts as does steel in its cauldron,
ready to pour forth,white hot,
in the fullness of time. -Mother Jones

European farmers protest to demand help on milk prices

May 26, 2009

Furious farmers have blockaded roads and forced a halt to production at scores of dairies as part of Europe-wide protests designed to reverse a slump in the wholesale price of milk.

As they gathered on Monday, European Union farm ministers met to discuss the crisis, with nations divided over those wanting the quota system, set to be scrapped within six years, maintained in one form or another.

In Brussels, farm tractors blocked major roads in the city's European quarter, where police said about 900 demonstrators had rallied to make their voices heard by the agriculture ministers.

Riot police were seen trying to hold back the protesters, who converged on the Belgian capital from 10 countries, but the farmers broke through their barricade, despite receiving truncheon blows from some officers. Read entire article

FACTBOX-Trade union activity in Western Europe

May 28, 2009

Unions across Europe protesting. Read entire article

Civil Unrest

Michael C. Ruppert
27/02/09

It Seems as if The World is Holding Its Breath for Obama's change...

Already devastated by auto layoffs and other massive corporate failures, Ohio's industrial areas border and are in close proximity to Kentucky, West Virginia, Indiana and Pennsylvania. Lots of kindling in those states. At the same time as Ohio is devastated by DHL, auto and other layoffs, much of the nation's high-tech wind turbine industry in Ohio is also shutting down at the same time... just when we need it. The snake eats its own tail for nutrition. It is the way money works... for now.

Civil unrest in Ohio could easily infect across state lines here, and cross another fault line that runs east and west, separating north from south; the Mason Dixon. Other earthquakes might be triggered. Eastward from Ohio are Pennsylvania and New Jersey. I wonder how much inter-agency advance planning DHS and FEMA have gone through so that they might operate fluidly across many borders, radio frequencies and jurisdictions. Those contingencies were planned for in the Patriot Act which congress didn't or couldn't read before voting on it. Read article

George Soros, the man who broke the Bank,
sees a global meltdown

March 28, 2009

This recession, he explains, is a “once-in-a-lifetime event”, particularly in Britain. “This is a crisis unlike any other. It’s a total collapse of the financial system with tremendous implications for everyday life. On previous occasions when you had a crisis that was threatening the system the authorities intervened and did whatever was necessary to protect the system. This time they failed.” Read entire article

California's new budget proposal
slashes welfare, releases inmates

By Kevin Yamamura
The Sacramento Bee

In California's latest doom-and-gloom announcement, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's Department of Finance on Tuesday proposed closing the state's main welfare program, releasing nonviolent prisoners one year early and shuttering up to 80 percent of state parks to shrink the state's $24.3 billion budget deficit. Read entire article

Amnesty Report Warns World on Verge of Global Unrest

29 May 2009

Amnesty International released its annual report yesterday, warning that that the world is on the verge of global unrest, with existing poverty severely worsened by the international economic crisis. In every major geographic area the report details conditions relating to social and economic insecurity, poverty and deprivation, and more. Read entire article

World Bank warns of social unrest

World Bank President Robert Zoellick has warned of the destabilising effects of unemployment.

The head of the World Bank has warned that the global economic crisis could lead to serious social upheaval.

"If we do no take measures, there is a risk of a serious human and social crisis with very serious political implications," Robert Zoellick said. Read entire article

Cities across the world become platform for hundreds of thousands of protesters against Gaza fighting

11th January 2009

Cities across the world became the platform for protest on Israel's military action in Gaza today.

Organisers said more than 250,000 people marched through Spain's capital of Madrid, with other European cities including Athens, Brussels, Rome, Naples Frankfurt, Munich and Berlin also the focal points of protesters.

The protest in Madrid was the largest of demonstrations across Europe, although there were expressions of both support and opposition for the Israeli offensive in Gaza. Read article; see photos

More EU protests planned over unemployment

May 15, 2009

MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- Protests are expected to continue in Brussels on Friday after tens of thousands marched on the streets of Spain's capital Thursday to demand better protection for workers hit hard by the economic crisis. Thousands take part in the Madrid demonstration, organized by the European Trade Confederation.

Dressed in funeral black to mourn the estimated 4 million jobless in Spain, demonstrators had a simple message for the government: Enough corporate bailouts; it's time to focus on the workers. Read article

Up to 100,000 demonstrate in Berlin for more job protection

16.05.2009

The protests came only two weeks after massive demonstrations on May 1. Up to 100,000 protestors have marched through the heart of Berlin, demanding the government do more to protect jobs during the recession. The rally was part of a series of protests across the European Union.

Trade union officials said 100,000 people took part in Berlin's protest, while police put the total at "several tens of thousands".

The rally was organized by the Confederation of German Trade Unions (DGB) as part of a series of four demonstrations across Europe with the motto "Fight the crisis. Europe needs a new social deal".

Amidst Germany's deepest recession since World War Two, unemployment has risen consecutively in the past 6 months and forecasts for the coming year are even bleaker. Demonstrators accused the government of putting big business first, and not doing enough to protect the people. Read entire article

Economic crisis damaging human rights, report says

ELITSA VUCHEVA
28.05.2009

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – Human rights violations remained widespread across the world in 2008, including Europe, with the global economic crisis not only aggravating the existing problems, but creating new ones as well, human rights group Amnesty International's yearly report released on Thursday (28 May) shows.

"The global economic crisis is an explosive human rights crisis. A combination of social, economic and political problems has created a [across the world]," said Irene Khan, the group's secretary general.

"There are growing signs of political unrest and violence, adding to the global insecurity that already exists because of deadly conflicts which the international community seems unable or unwilling to resolve. In other words: we are sitting on a powder keg of inequality, injustice and insecurity, and it is about to explode," she wrote in the introduction to Amnesty's report on the situation of human rights in the world. Read article

France NATO protesters, police clash; Michelle Obama hospital visit cancelled over security worries

April 4th 2009

STRASBOURG, France — Black-clad protesters attacked police and set a customs station ablaze Saturday on a bridge linking France and Germany that served hours earlier as the backdrop for a show of unity by NATO leaders.

AP photographers saw other protesters storm a nearby Ibis hotel, setting fires and pilfering alcohol from its bar.

Stacks of old tires were also set ablaze, unleashing thick plumes of black smoke that could be seen from across the river. Near the bonfire was a sign welcoming visitors to Strasbourg.

First lady Michelle Obama and other spouses canceled a visit to a cancer hospital out of concern for security, the French president's office said. Some 1,000 protesters were staked out near the hospital they were to visit.

Some of the protesters say they want an end to war and call NATO a tool of Western imperialism. Others simply appear bent on causing chaos. Read article

Civil Unrest in America?

José Miguel Alonso Trabanco
Global Research
March 9, 2009

The only thing that can be taken for granted and that one can be sure of is that the unthinkable has now become thinkable.

Zbigniew Brzezinski, former National Security Advisor and early supporter of Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, has warned that civil unrest on American soil is a possibility that should not be dismissed. Brzezinski explains that "[the United States is] going to have millions and millions of unemployed, people really facing dire straits. And we’re going to be having that for some period of time before things hopefully improve. And at the same time there is public awareness of this extraordinary wealth that was transferred to a few individuals at levels without historical precedent in America…" Brzezinski concludes with this noteworthy remark "…hell, there could be even riots"....

Professor Michel Chossudovsky observed that the US Army 3rd Infantry’s 1st Brigade Combat Team returned from Iraq some months ago. That information is extremely disturbing because such military unit "may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control", according to official sources. Now, what scenario could possibly require the operational deployment of said units on American soil? Professor Chossudovsky puts forward an intriguing hypothesis that must be borne in mind. He argues that "Civil unrest resulting from from the financial meltdown is a distinct possibility, given the broad impacts of financial collapse on lifelong savings, pension funds, homeownership, etc". Read full article

Some day the workers will take possession of your city hall, and when we do, no child will be sacrificed on the altar of profit! -Mother Jones

Humpty Dumpty and the G20

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king's horses and all the king's men
Couldn't put Humpty Dumpty back together again.

There is wisdom in this old nursery rhyme for the G20 summit: one which will most likely go unheeded as those invested in capitalism try to glue the pieces back together. Anyone pinning their hopes on the G20 summit for relief from this Fat Cat, Big Dog economic meltdown of capitalism, had better keep their money in their pockets. Getting even three countries to agree on anything would be a minor miracle - 20 would require a cosmic reconstruction of the universe.

No doubt, the focus of the G20 Summit will be how to restore the capitalist system. But some things broken cannot not be fixed. We have all experienced such consequences: ever had to deal with infidelity of a partner? how about a car involved in a head on collision? Chances of repairing the damage of such events is close to nil. Sometimes the consequences of our destructive are irrevocable.

People of the world know this and are demonstrating and rioting in countries all over the world.
The big lie of capitalism has been revealed to all now and the international clamour for a system which puts people before profits is deafening. The fairy tale smokescreen has been blown away and nasty greed and callousness of an economic order designed for the benefit of the rich to become richer is laid bare for everyone on earth now. Yet, like addicts who seek to clean up and get healthy, we will suffer the painful withdrawal cleansing us of our illusions:change will come only after blood, tears and determination.

The words of the evil genius of our times, George Soros
, may be the writing on the wall.

The G20 summit in London next week is, he says, the last chance to avert disaster. “The odds would favour that it fails because there are such differences of opinion. It’s difficult enough to get it right in your own country let alone with 20 governments coming together, but if it’s a failure I think then the global financial and trading system falls apart.”

If the G20 is nothing but a talking shop then he thinks we are heading for meltdown. “That could push the world into depression. It’s really a make-or-break occasion. That’s why it’s so important.” The chances of a depression are, he says, “quite high” – even if that is averted, the recession will last a long time. “Look, we are not going back to where we came from. In that sense it’s going to last for ever.”

There is only one way out for us, trite tho it is: worker's of the world unite. And before our internet freedoms are curtailed by those who wish to retain control of people as labour commodities for their own benefit. The article below details the efforts of Europeans to begin the painful fight to take back planet earth from the Fat Cats who feel entitled to use the rest of us for their own purposes of power and greed.

Read and feel empowered: this process will take much courage.


G20 demonstrators march in London
Source with video and links

Tens of thousands of people have marched through London demanding action on poverty, climate change and jobs, ahead of next week's G20 summit.

The Put People First alliance of 150 charities and unions walked from Embankment to Hyde Park for a rally.

Speakers called on G20 leaders to pursue a new kind of global justice.

Police estimate 35,000 marchers took part in the event. Its organisers say people wanted the chance to air their views peacefully.

Protesters described a "carnival-like atmosphere" with brass bands, piercing whistles and stereos blasting music as the slow-paced procession weaved through the streets.

Police said one man was arrested during the march for being drunk and disorderly.

Unite union, general secretary Derek Simpson said: "I think it's an important message but whether it will get through to the people meeting in London I don't know. Anyone who sees the numbers on this march should realise how important it is."

G20 march in London
Protesters came from across the UK and around the world

Families with children in pushchairs were among those marching along the 4.2-mile route under banners with slogans including 'capitalists - you are the crisis' and 'justice for the world's poor'.

As protesters passed the heavily-policed gates of Downing Street, there were chants and jeers with one person shouting "enjoy the overtime".

BBC News reporter Mario Cacciottolo said people were clearly angry, but the atmosphere was not tense.

Milton McKenzie, 73, from Essex, told him: "How the hell can we have a situation here in Britain where we have people out of work and the bankers just cream it off and are helped by the government."

G20 LONDON SUMMIT
World leaders will meet next week in London to discuss measures to tackle the downturn. See our in-depth guide to the G20 summit.
The G20 countries are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the US and the EU.

Italian trade unionist Nicoli Nicolosi, who had travelled from Rome, said: "We are here to try and make a better world and protest against the G20."

Glen Tarman, chairman of the Put People First co-ordination team, said: "An exciting alliance has been born today. We will keep up the pressure on world leaders and the UK government to address our demands and put people first."

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said he wanted to see G20 leaders agree a plan of action to deal with the financial downturn.

"Where I hope we will see a consensus emerge is in the recognition that unless they act together, then the problems are only going to get worse.

"This, unlike any other recession, is a recession right across the world."

The Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband said it was important for the G20 to make commitments on helping the environment as well as the economy.

"There are some people who will say you can either tackle the economic crisis or the climate crisis.

"But the truth is that both come together with this idea of a Green New Deal, of investing in the jobs of the future, which are going to be in the green industries of the future."

The director of the the Adam Smith Institute, Dr Eamonn Butler, said governments have caused the economic crisis.

Protesters with a model made out of money
Many protesters were calling for social justice

"The world market economy is actually a very moral system that raised a billion people out of poverty in the last 10 years," he said.

A huge security operation is under way in the run-up to the G20 summit, at which world leaders will discuss the global financial crisis and other issues.

There have been fears that banks and other financial institutions could be the focus for violent protests.

Commander Simon O'Brien, one of the senior command team in charge of policing security, said: "It's fair to say that this [the march] is one of the largest, one of the most challenging and one of the most complicated operations we have delivered.

"G20 is attracting a significant amount of interest from protest groups. There is an almost unprecedented level of activity going on."

Saturday's march will be followed by a series of protests on Wednesday and Thursday by a variety of coalitions and groups campaigning on a range of subjects, from poverty, inequality and jobs to war, climate change and capitalism.

Berlin march

Ahead of the summit, Prime Minister Gordon Brown has been visiting a number of countries seeking support.

On Friday, during a visit to Chile, he said people should not be "cynical" about what could be achieved at next week's summit, saying he was optimistic about the likely outcome.

However, in an interview with Saturday's Financial Times, German Chancellor Angela Merkel dampened expectations of a significant breakthrough.

She said one meeting would not be enough to solve the economic crisis and finish building a new structure for global markets.

In Berlin, thousands of protesters have also taken to the streets with a message to the G20 leaders: "We won't pay for your crisis".

Another march took place in the city of Frankfurt. The demonstrations attracted as many as 20,000 people.

Banners accused the Germany government of being too willing to spend billions bailing out financial institutions and too slow to protect ordinary workers, the BBC's Steve Rosenberg said from Berlin.

Related:

Rescuing Socialism

Chinadaily BBS - World Affairs Today - Is Capitalism dying?

News you WANT to read: Local Heroes

Almost all real heroes are local heroes. Men and women who act on their beliefs, knowing the consequences they may bring upon themselves, stand up, first alone, then together. This is a story of such a man and the movement that has emerged from his courage.

Take Back the Land:

Miami Grassroots Group Moves
Struggling Families into Vacant Homes

Umojaweb
Source
The Miami grassroots group Take Back the Land has launched a campaign to help some of the victims of the foreclosure crisis. The group has been helping homeless families illegally move into vacant homes that have been foreclosed. We speak to Take Back the Land founder Max Rameau.



Guest:

Max Rameau, Miami-based activist and organizer with Take Back the Land


JUAN GONZALEZ: Earlier this week, President-elect Barack Obama nominated Shaun Donovan to head the Department of Housing and Urban Development. One of Donovan’s main challenges will be dealing with the foreclosure crisis. An estimated 2.5 million homes have been foreclosed this year. One of the hardest-hit states has been Florida. Over 40,000 homes have been foreclosed in Miami-Dade County alone.

One grassroots group in Miami called Take Back the Land has launched a campaign to help some of the victims of the foreclosure crisis. The group, led by activist Max Rameau, has been helping homeless families illegally move into vacant homes that have been foreclosed. Two years ago, Rameau helped build the Umoja Village Shantytown that housed hundreds of homeless men and women. He is the author of the book Take Back the Land: Land Gentrification and the Umoja Village Shantytown.

AMY GOODMAN: Max Rameau joins us now from Miami. We welcome you to Democracy Now! Max, tell us exactly what you’re doing right now to deal with the foreclosure crisis.

MAX RAMEAU: Well, there are a lot of vacant homes in Miami, and so this is creating all kinds of problems in our community. But the worst thing is that there’s all these vacant homes while there are people literally across the street sometimes sleeping in parks and in empty lots. So, Take Back the Land is identifying vacant government-owned and foreclosed homes. We’re going into them, we’re cleaning them up, and we’re moving homeless families into those homes so that they have a place to stay.

JUAN GONZALEZ: Max, back in the 1970s, there was a similar problem with a lot of federally owned houses after the big FHA mortgage crisis. And there were squatters’ movements around the country. What’s been the reaction of local officials to this movement that you’ve started?

MAX RAMEAU: Well, we haven’t had a whole lot of reaction. Up until last week, there was really no reaction at all. And, of course, people were aware of what we were doing when we started this in October of 2007. We did so very openly and very publicly, and we had a big feature in the local newspaper about it, so that it wasn’t like we were keeping this secret or anything, and our activities were very well known.

However, last weekend, one of the homes that we moved a family in, this family identified themselves publicly and has done media and did not conceal their identity at all. The police chief of the city of Miami did send over two officers last week to check on the house and to look around in order to advance his own investigation of what was happening, and we had to respond to questions about what was going on.

But I will say that I think the crisis is at such a level right now that I don’t think there’s going to be a whole lot of public appetite for the police doing a widespread crackdown on this kind of thing, given the fact that there are a whole lot of people who need homes, there’s a whole lot of empty homes, and there’s a whole lot of money that’s being shoveled over to the banks. So the banks have all this money, and they don’t even have to give up the homes. They get both the money and the homes. So I think that the police are being used as a tool for the banks so that the banks can keep these places vacant and cash in on them a little bit later. I don’t think there’s going to be a whole lot of public sympathy for that position.

AMY GOODMAN: What has been the response overall? The press? The authorities? And how many people have you found homes for?

MAX RAMEAU: Well, the authorities, we haven’t had much response from at all, except for that one incident last week, which, you know, didn’t amount to anything but a fact-finding mission.

The general public has been very responsive to it. Obviously, we go and we talk to the neighbors before we move people into these homes, because we’re not only trying to improve the lives of these individuals, we also want to improve our communities, the communities that, you know, I live in and that we live in. So we feel that having the neighbors a part of the process is a very important part of this campaign. And the general public, I think, supports it, because they recognize that there is a real crisis here, and these houses are not doing anything good.

I think what’s happening is we’re having a—approaching a real clash between two rights, or at least perceived rights. One is the right of human beings to have housing, and the other is the right of corporations to make a profit. And there’s a clash going on between these two rights, or perceived rights, and the society is starting to work out which one it thinks is the most important right. And we are asserting that the right of human beings to housing supersedes the right of corporations to make a profit. And I think people are starting to come to that same conclusion.

JUAN GONZALEZ: And the impact on Miami-Dade of this phenomenal increase in foreclosures?

MAX RAMEAU: Well, obviously, there’s a lot of people who are hurting. There’s a lot of families who are being forced out and becoming homeless or being forced to move in with other relatives. And so, what’s happening is you have a two-bedroom house that has a family, you know, couple and the child, and then suddenly a brother or sister or another child and their children move into the place. There’s a lot of overcrowding going on. There’s a lot of deterioration of property, because there’s too many people living there. There’s a lot of people in really, really desperate situations. And getting a financial break of a month, two months, six months, eight months, however the time will be, where they don’t have to pay rent and they can save up money, I think is a big help.

But this crisis is absolutely devastating, and I think it’s compounded by the fact that government on every level—the federal, state and local—has not only failed to do anything to alleviate the crisis, they’ve actually played a very active role in exacerbating the crisis. And I think people understand that and are very upset by that. So this has really been devastating for a lot, a lot of people.
AMY GOODMAN: It’s very interesting to see this model being used in other places. In Cleveland, advocates are working with the city to allow homeless people to legally move into and repair empty dilapidated houses. In Atlanta, some property owners pay homeless people to live in abandoned homes as a security measure. I’m looking at an AP piece. Talk about Marie Nadine Pierre, the woman who was sleeping in a shelter with her child, and the house you moved her into. And we only have about a minute to go. Describe that situation.

MAX RAMEAU: Well, first of all, a lot of those things are happening here also in Miami, where homeless people—we have several people who are in these homes, you know, somewhat protecting them, I guess, from squatters, by being allowed to move there. Of course, their status there is still very shaky.

With the shelter system here, once you’re in the homeless assistance center in Miami for thirty days, the shelter kicks you out for thirty more days. So, in other words, you go in there for thirty days, they kick you out, and they say, “You can come back again after you spend thirty days on the street, if you have nowhere else to go.” And that is exactly what happened to Marie Nadine Pierre. She got kicked out, and she contacted us right before she did. And so, the day she got kicked out, she was moved into a place where she was able to stay herself. So she would have spent thirty more days on the street, with her and her children. And luckily, she was able to avoid doing that. Now she’s staying in a home that otherwise would have been completely and totally vacant and not doing [inaudible].

AMY GOODMAN: And that house, you know the house well?

MAX RAMEAU: Yes, I do know the house well. In fact, my friends rented the house out, and the landlord, of course, you know, took out one of these bogus mortgages, where they, you know, winked at the mortgage broker and the mortgage broker winked right back. And he said, “You know, I’m willing to take this mortgage that I know I can’t afford, if the bank is willing to give me the money.” And, of course, the bank was more than willing to give them the money.

And so, I’ve been to that house many times visiting friends, and each one of the residents of that house have volunteered at one point or another for Take Back the Land. And they were very happy to make that place available for a family, rather than stay empty so that a bank can cash in. Lehman Brothers, in fact, owns the house, the Lehman Brothers corporation, so we’ve been very happy a family got to use it.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, we’re going to have to leave it there, Max Rameau. The Lehman Brothers corporation that, well, supposedly doesn’t quite exist anymore. Max Rameau, Miami-based activist and organizer of Take Back the Land.

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Activist moves homeless into foreclosures

Man executes bailout plan of his own
on Miami's empty streets

Marie Nadine Pierre and her baby, Nennon, are squatting in a foreclosured house in Florida.

Source
MIAMI - Max Rameau delivers his sales pitch like a pro. "All tile floor!" he says during a recent showing. "And the living room, wow! It has great blinds."

But in nearly every other respect, he is unlike any real estate agent you've ever met. He is unshaven, drives a beat-up car and wears grungy cut-off sweat pants. He also breaks into the homes he shows. And his clients don't have a dime for a down payment.

Rameau is an activist who has been executing a bailout plan of his own around Miami's empty streets: He is helping homeless people illegally move into foreclosed homes.

"We're matching homeless people with people-less homes," he said with a grin.

Rameau and a group of like-minded advocates formed Take Back the Land, which also helps the new "tenants" with secondhand furniture, cleaning supplies and yard upkeep. So far, he has moved six families into foreclosed homes and has nine on a waiting list.

'Everyone deserves a home'
"I think everyone deserves a home," said Rameau, who said he takes no money from his work with the homeless. "Homeless people across the country are squatting in empty homes. The question is: Is this going to be done out of desperation or with direction?"

With the housing market collapsing, squatting in foreclosed homes is believed to be on the rise around the country. But squatters usually move in on their own, at night, when no one is watching. Rarely is the phenomenon as organized as Rameau's effort to "liberate" foreclosed homes.

Florida — especially the Miami area, with its once-booming condo market — is one of the hardest-hit states in the housing crisis, largely because of overbuilding and speculation. In September, Florida had the nation's second-highest foreclosure rate, with one out of every 178 homes in default, according to Realty Trac, an online marketer of foreclosed properties. Only Nevada's rate was higher.

Like other cities, Miami is trying to ease the problem. Officials launched a foreclosure-prevention program to help homeowners who have fallen behind on their mortgage, with loans of up to $7,500 per household.

The city also recently passed an ordinance requiring owners of abandoned homes — whether an individual or bank — to register those properties with the city so police can better monitor them.

Elsewhere around the country, advocates in Cleveland are working with the city to allow homeless people to legally move into and repair empty, dilapidated houses. In Atlanta, some property owners pay homeless people to live in abandoned homes as a security measure.

From shelter to home
In early November, Rameau drove a woman and her 18-month old daughter to a ranch home on a quiet street lined with swaying tropical foliage. Marie Nadine Pierre, 39, has been sleeping at a shelter with her toddler. She said she had been homeless off and on for a year, after losing various jobs and getting evicted from several apartments.

"My heart is heavy. I've lived in a lot of different shelters, a lot of bad situations," Pierre said. "In my own home, I'm free. I'm a human being now."

Rameau chose the house for Pierre, in part, because he knew its history. A man had bought the home in the city's predominantly Haitian neighborhood in 2006 for $430,000, then rented it to Rameau's friends. Those friends were evicted in October because the homeowner had stopped paying his mortgage and the property went into foreclosure.

Rameau, who makes his living as a computer consultant, said he is doing the owner a favor. Before Pierre moved in, someone stole the air conditioning unit from the backyard, and it was only a matter of time before thieves took the copper pipes and wiring, he said.

"Within a couple of months, this place would be stripped and drug dealers would be living here," he said, carrying a giant plastic garbage bag filled with Pierre's clothes into the home.

He said he is not scared of getting arrested.

"There's a real need here, and there's a disconnect between the need and the law," he said. "Being arrested is just one of the potential factors in doing this."

Miami spokeswoman Kelly Penton said city officials did not know Rameau was moving homeless into empty buildings — but they are also not stopping him.

No actions to stop
"There are no actions on the city's part to stop this," she said in an e-mail. "It is important to note that if people trespass into private property, it is up to the property owner to take action to remove those individuals."

Pierre herself could be charged with trespassing, vandalism or breaking and entering. Rameau assured her he has lawyers who will represent her free.

Two weeks after Pierre moved in, she came home to find the locks had been changed, probably by the property's manager. Everything inside — her food, clothes and family photos — was gone.

But late last month, with Rameau's help, she got back inside and has put Christmas decorations on the front door.

So far, police have not gotten involved.

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