Forum on Gentrification and Displacement

[ahoc-somerville.livejournal.com]

Gentrification and Displacement: What do they mean?  What can we do about them in Somerville?

Thursday, May 14th, 6 PM
at the Elizabeth Peabody House
277 Broadway (at Broadway & Grant St--#89 Bus from Davis Sq.)
Somerville, MA 02145
 
Please join us to:

• Watch the film "BOOM: the Sound of Eviction" about gentrification and efforts to prevent displacement
• Hear brief comments from Somervillians dealing with this issue
• Discuss together our ideas for Somerville.

Sponsored by the Affordable Housing Organizing Committee (AHOC) and Save our Somerville (SOS). For more information, please contact Mary Regan at 617 776-5931 x230 or mregan at somervillecdc dot org

x-posted to somervillemass 

Comments

[ahoc-somerville.livejournal.com]

You're right that the particular quoted statement has a Marxist/Leninist flavor. I'm not sure why that writer (who, as far as I can tell, is not connected to the documentary except in that the filmmakers thought his article was relevant) included that statement in his piece, which is a fairly good explanation of the process of gentrification.

But, to respond: Classes in American society clearly are not going to disappear anytime soon, for better or for worse. Gentrification is the process by which working-class people find that they can no longer live where they once did, and that is a process that we hope to be able to do something about.