Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, Eli erected a 2:3 scale guillotine over the Charging Bull sculpture outside the Stock Exchange. The original text accompanying the installation is as follows:
The US government refuses to provide adequate healthcare, racial justice initiatives, or stable employment to its people. Instead, it handed over trillions to the wealthy during the worst health crisis in U.S. history. With this money, they could have ended homelessness 75 times over. They could have ended global hunger for 136 years. They could have paid for 10 years of reparations for slavery. Instead, the money went to temporarily slow the loss of wealth for the top 1%. In the times of crisis, it is up to the people to support one another. It is up to us to establish mutual aid networks in our communities and create our own political, economic, and social freedoms.
Charging Bull doesn’t represent much for the average person: most people don’t own stocks. The golden calf stands for the impossible concept of endless growth at the expense of workers. Market expansion (bull markets) cannot exist forever. In reality, financiers profit at the expense of workers. Every cent of their profit is stolen from the fruits of your labor. They do not create wealth: you do!
The guillotine contradicts the bull’s symbolism. We refuse to let the 1% believe they can profit off of racial injustice and the current pandemic. The guillotine serves as a reminder that capitalism will dig its own grave. Capitalist economic growth cannot exist indefinitely and our wellbeing cannot be based upon their markets. We cannot survive on the scraps of the wealthy forever. The time to rise up is NOW.
We have five simple demands for relief during this crisis (Via Decolonize This Place):
ONE: FREE HEALTHCARE
Free testing, treatment and healthcare for all.
TWO: NO WORK
Suspend work obligations. Guarantee food stamps, food banks, and sick pay for all.
THREE: NO PAYING – NO DEBT
Suspend all rent, mortgage, utilities, loans, foreclosures, evictions, parking, and enforcement.
FOUR: FREE THE PRISONERS
End bail for jails, deactivate ICE, release detainees, and stop all sweeps of homeless camps.
FIVE: HOMES FOR ALL
Open up unoccupied homes to anyone who needs one.
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If you’d like to get involved, learn about mutual aid projects at Big Door Brigade, Mutual Aid Hub, or It’s Going Down. You can also see a list of tenant resources at Black Rose. Demand list via Decolonize This Place.