The War of Classes: Squatter Camp Invasion

The people that speak of a civil war as an occasion in the future lack the understanding of what war is and the events that lead to the climax. Breaking news only report things that have reached a ‘breaking’ point; a point at which all hell is breaking loose. By that time any reaction is most definitely too late. Neighbours have implemented a blockade around their borders and the issuing of travel permits is paused or under high scrutiny; the material within the area have lost more than half of their value or the markets are closed to trading or conversions; you have no means to access your money and or it has very little value in small volumes and carrying large volumes of it is unsafe. That is the breaking point. 

Thunder does not crack above one’s head out of the blue. The clouds gather slowly and turn grey; the atmosphere thickens and becomes cold; winds may gain a force to them and carry dust; and then thunder cracks follow. The sleeping wake up to loud cracks of thunder; mud; and floods. Do you see the clouds gathering?

Someone once said: politics is war without bloodshed and war is politics with bloodshed. Ideally one precedes the other. Is the South African bloodless politics leading to a civil war? What classes are crashing? It is impossible to have a million people singing in one tune if the enemy is not an outsider. One race that has killed each other for years will unite if another race becomes a threat. One continent will unite to conquer another continent. After a long time of peace,however,  the other or others form within one class, the hierarchy begins. We get to speaking of the upper and lower middle class. Democracy is not a tide that lifts all boats. The boats are not all side by side and the ones at the back will only be pushed further back by a dying tide. 

People easily repeat the sentiment that the middle class is dying and continue to say what they think the cause might be. Very few speak about the consequences. Maybe they are scared to look. It is not hard to see why they would not want to look! The majority of every class is always by the door. The people that are one paycheck from poverty– the people one national or local election from irrelevance and shame. The doors are bigger as you move up the classes and those close to them are ruthless guards. The gatekeepers usually laugh at the people in the corridors and give out a loud cry as they fly out the doors themselves. A few people enjoy witnessing the suffering of others, the majority are too unstable themselves to offer any help. 

The Squatter Camp Invasion is a serious phenomenon. One that demands immediate and drastic actions. Actions no politician will dare to suggest. If you are voted into a position by majority and the people that perpetuate the problem are the same majority; it only makes sense that you offer a pacifier and not real solutions. People are emotional creatures and adapt to environments quickly. Environmental adaptation requires very little effort in the twenty-first century. You could be in a shack and have electricity and access to running water. The water may not run throughout the day and everyday but you have mastered the sequence and it hardly changes. You have rights to shelter and there are organizations with international funding to protect those rights. Even when those rights are infringing on area property codes and building permits and policies or laws. 

Who should be affected? The people that buy property within the laws or the government that should provide shelter or means to enable the acquisition of shelter? It is impossible to get to the ruling class, unless they are campaigning for re-election. On the other hand, property owners have to fend for themselves. Property owners have a budget for the security of their property; make means to pay very expensive comprehensive home insurance policies; and have legal representation on standby. The ruling class on the other hand have the state or tax-payers securing their paycheck and it is big enough to afford multiple personnel for security detail; their homes come with the position they hold in government or at least a subsidy. 

Who should die then? The people by the door of every class will fight tooth and nail to stay within the room, even if it means they invite trouble into the room. The overlap between squatter camps and urban areas is permitted by property owners within those areas. As soon as they sense that they are being flushed out of the class they make desperate means to prolong their stay. Unfortunately, any solution implemented to fix an outcome not the behavior or cause is doomed to invite more of the same outcome. Last resort solutions do not always get the best resources allocated to them. That is how we get the first shack in the neighbourhood. Before we know it there are several; and soon they have a momentum of their own. The entire place goes to shit!

Property is supposed to be a store of wealth, simply because there is no new land being created – therefore people buy land from other people. It is not the best of the classes that seeks to buy in areas overrun by shacks. It is either people falling out of the class above or people exploiting the lower class. Either way, the energy they bring is not positive. Properties that were bought or mortgaged at higher valuation depreciate, meaning property owners will not get equal or more than what they paid. The worst of cases are owners coming into the area at the beginning of the decline that will reach its peak monstrosity face within the bond repayment period. You finance a property and five to ten years later the properties are overrun by shacks and you’ve barely made a dent on your repayments. The worst part about this is that people are hopeful when they should be fearful — they convince themselves to believe that things are not as bad as they seem or that they will get better. They do not get better! The children will inherit a fast moving bus without a braking system and they should make a home of it. 

The Squatter Camp invasion is the war on the middle class by the lower class supported by people falling out of higher classes.