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Thousands Rally To Stop I-Hotel Eviction Attempt

By VVAW

For 8 years tenants of the International hotel, a residential hotel in San Francisco's Chinatown-Manilatown district, have been waging a fierce battle to prevent the attempts of the city and of big corporations to evict them from their home. The struggle has been a history of huge landlord corporations working through the city government and the sheriff getting eviction notices and trying to force the tenants from the building; each time there has been an upsurge of mass anger organized into demonstration and other actions which have forced the authorities to back down. The struggle has sparked growing support--each time the authorities try again to throw out the tenants, they are met by greater and stronger resistance.

The following article was written by a member of VVAW in the Bay Area and talks about this involvement in the International Hotel battle; it was written during the most recent attempt by the city to evict the tenants which, like all those before, was successfully resisted.

But there was one real big difference between Vietnam and here--this time we were fighting against the rich class and their system instead of for them, and that's why we've been fighting so hard for the last 8 years against 2 landlords and numerous eviction attempts.

What kind of system is this we live under that would barricade streets and call out 500 cops and sheriffs to throw 70 retired Chinese and Filipino workers out of their homes? Only several months earlier, Sheriff Hongisto's deputies murdered a 73-year-old Black man when he refused to be evicted. The rich and their corporations want and need the International Hotel property so they can put their investments to further work and make greater profits, all the while pushing us down further. These profit-hungry animals are the same type--the same class--that tried to destroy Vietnam in their effort to save it for their own plunder. Their system is a profit system, a system they try to force us to live under every day. But people everywhere are standing up and saying NO MORE! You can see it right in front of the International Hotel.

The power of the people united stopped the eviction. Over 5000 people rallied in the street two days before the eviction deadline. Eleven thousand have signed the petition, and masses of people in the Bay Area stand in firm support of the tenants.

This is why the capitalists call out over 500 cops. This is why the cops have to barricade the streets. This is why the court backed off and postponed the eviction--all because of our united strength.

Trying to divide people, the police put out reports about automatic weapons and bombs being stored in the Hotel, and about the immediate threat of violence. But thousands know that these are lies aimed at trying to weaken our fight. The tenants have weapons alright--those weapons are the united, organized and militant support of thousands of people. We've backed the sheriffs, the police and the courts down four times. We'll back the whole rich class and their gang at City Hall down until they buy the International Hotel and keep it for low-cost housing and community centers. We are united, organized, disciplined--WE WILL WIN!