Hope Packages is neither a charity, service-provider, nor mutual-aid organization because our project is not an end in itself but a means to a larger, more transformative end. These distinctions are of political and practical importance because, in sum, we are building unity through solidarity to fight and create a better city and world.
It is one thing to speak vaguely about social transformation and justice, about inequality and poverty, and about working to end them. We believe today’s struggle requires more than that: it requires a politically clear, accessible, and achievable vision.
Drawing on the long history of multinational working-class resistance, Hope Packages organizes to immediately implement the following 10 demands in Indianapolis as part of a larger effort to transform society:
1. End Gentrification
Stop building new luxury housing and fill all existing housing with people. We don’t need luxury housing to sit vacant for the profits of financial speculators, we need homes for our residents.
6. Make Housing a Human Right!
Recognize and enshrine housing as a human right in the Indianapolis City-County County Code of Ordinances. Advocate for the right to housing nationwide.
2. Build Public Housing
Instead of giving hotel developers $625 million, invest that money to construct low-rent and affordable housing we need and deserve. Place these in a public trust overseen by a group of democratically-elected Indianapolis residents.
7. Implement a Living Wage and Close All Loopholes
Raise the minimum wage to a conservative $22/hour living-wage, close and prevent any loopholes that let bosses pay below it, and ensure no rents or mortgages exceed 30% of our income.
3. Make Housing Accessible
Expand and enforce legal protections and for all poor and working-class people, including Black people, LGBTQ people (especially LGBTQ youth), and ensure all housing is disability accessible.
8. Expand Public Spaces
Protect and expand public spaces, which are central to our community. Instead of privatizing resources, ensure the adequate distribution of public and fully accessible restrooms and those overseeing public resources, like the Indianapolis Public Library Board of Trustees, represent the people and, if they don’t, remove them immediately.
4. Free Education for All
Provide free high-quality daycare and public education for all poor and working-class residents.
9. Protect Tenants and Residents
Expand, protect, continuously update, and enforce the rights of tenants, renters, and those with mortgages.
5. End Food Apartheid
Guarantee the equal distribution of high-quality and affordable grocery stores in all neighborhoods.
10. Fund Real Public Safety
More jails, police, and surveillance cameras don’t keep us safe. By divesting from the police state and funding community-centered public safety measures like those outlined above, our vision can be achieved easily and quickly.
