Drivers pass by City Hall calling for the cancellation of rents during the COVID-19 crisis. Photo by Mike Jasko
By Mike Jasko
Herald Contributor
On Saturday, April 25, cities and towns around the country mobilized for a National Day of Car Protests to demand a national cancellation of all rents, mortgages for homeowners, small landlords and small businesses for the duration of the pandemic.
The patchwork of city and state moratoriums on evictions are not enough, say organizers. “In a few months when these moratoriums are lifted and the rents come due — we will still not have the money. Workers cannot pay their rent because we cannot work.
The capitalist government was forced to shut down the economy after months of its own criminal malfeasance and negligence rather than preparation for the pandemic spread. The same government is spending trillions to bail out capitalists. It needs to bail out renters and those who can’t pay mortgages following the loss of tens of millions of jobs in the last month.
“The government has had to implement shelter in place and stay-at-home measures to attempt to flatten the curve and slow the spread of the virus. With the closure of businesses due to these necessary stay-at-home measures tens of millions of U.S. workers have lost their jobs with record numbers of people applying for unemployment. It is because of the total lack of government preparedness in response to the virus that millions of workers are now out of work and faced with the question of how they and their families will survive.”