United Neighborhood Defense Movement
| Formation | June 30, 2020 |
|---|---|
| Dissolved | November 2021 |
| Merger of | Defend Our Hoodz Austin Defend Boyle Heights Serve the People |
| Type | Tenant advocacy group |
| Location |
|
| Affiliations | Red Guards |
The United Neighborhood Defense Movement (UNDM) was a tenants rights organization formed in several U.S. cities on June 30, 2020.[1] The group was initially a unity between two existing anti-gentrification groups, Defend Our Hoodz Austin and Defend Boyle Heights. UNDM advocated for a struggle by working class tenants against gentrification, evictions, and mass displacement. The organization had chapters in Los Angeles, Austin, Pittsburgh, Charlotte, and San Marcos.[2] UNDM would quickly decline within a year after experiencing poor engagement with tenants and suffering internal burnout from abusive leadership.[3] After its collapse in November 2021, it was later revealed to have been an active front for the Maoist group Red Guards (at that time reorganized into the Committee to Reconstitute the Communist Party of the USA, CR-CPUSA).
Program
UNDM positioned itself as a community defense organization for working class tenants to oppose racism, fascism, gentrification, capitalism, imperialism.[4] Similar to Maoist organizations, UNDM practiced democratic centralism, mass line, and proletarian internationalism. Politically, the group supports class war, rejecting "conciliation, collaboration, and capitulation" to landlords, police, tenant reforms, and electoralism.[5] The group was in favor of militant methods of organizing such as squatting, walk-in protests of property management firms, and allegedly property destruction (graffiti).
History
UNDM was founded on June 30, 2020 as a practical merger of Defend Our Hoodz Austin and Defend Boyle Heights, both of which were originally grassroots community organizations until their leadership was usurped by members of the Maoist Red Guards in their respective cities.[6][7] Membership was further supplemented by another Red Guards front, Serve the People. Much of the UNDM's early actions coincided with the larger COVID-19 economic crisis as the pandemic pressurized the housing market, particularly with rents.
In July 2020, UNDM activists in Pittsburgh began a rent strike campaign against Regent Square Rentals in the borough of Wilkinsburg after concerns arose over the termination of the state's eviction moratorium.[8]
In August 2020, tenants in the Valmar Gardens Community of Penn Hills organized an eviction protest with Pittsburgh UNDM after a county judge gave a court order deeming the apartment complex too unsafe to occupy.[9]
See also
References
- ↑ tribuneofthepeople (2020-07-03). "United Neighborhood Defense Movement Announces Launch with Statement and National Day of Action". Tribune of the People. Retrieved 2023-12-01.
- ↑ "A New Organization Ready to Fight for Working Class Homes and Communities! | United Neighborhood Defense Movement". web.archive.org. 2022-01-28. Retrieved 2023-12-01.
- ↑ "The Cult's Tenant/Community Organizing & United Neighborhood Defense Movement (UNDM)". Ex- Red Guards and CR-CPUSA Hub. 2023-08-24. Retrieved 2023-12-01.
- ↑ "153.6 KB file on MEGA". mega.nz. Retrieved 2023-12-01.
- ↑ "49.8 KB file on MEGA". mega.nz. Retrieved 2023-12-01.
- ↑ "DEFEND BOYLE HEIGHTS". Home. Retrieved 2023-12-01.
- ↑ Hardy, Michael (2018-03-21). "The Battle of the Blue Cat Café". Texas Monthly. Retrieved 2023-12-01.
- ↑ Lord, Rich (2020-07-10). "Tenants call for 'rent strike' against Wilkinsburg's biggest landlord — and fear retaliation". PublicSource. Retrieved 2023-12-01.
- ↑ "Residents Must Leave Dilapidated Apartment Complex, Judge Orders". 90.5 WESA. 2020-08-26. Retrieved 2023-12-01.
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