position:musician

Je ne sais pas si tu as vu passer ça, donc à tout hasard : ▻https://www.franceinter.fr/emissions/dans-la-playlist-de-france-inter/dans-la-playlist-de-france-inter-14-janvier-2019

Oui, j’avais mis ça là :
▻https://seenthis.net/messages/734148

("inédites" est exagéré, la plupart ces vidéos avaient été produites pour promouvoir des morceaux et avaient donc été largement diffusées à la télévision à l’époque, c’est juste que #Prince ne voulait pas qu’elles soient sur Youtube...)

Triple wow !!!

Si les paroles sont générales, le clip est clairement anti-Trump

L’album entier semble intéressant :

Songs Of Resistance 1942-2018
▻http://marcribot.com/latest-news/14279452
▻https://www.amazon.com/Songs-Resistance-1942-Marc-Ribot/dp/B07DLK7ZCH?SubscriptionId=AKIAJ2JPVFTMZGHMZXNQ&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creati

Portions of the album’s proceeds will be donated to The Indivisible Project, an organization that helps individuals resist the Trump agenda via grassroots movements in their local communities. More info on The Indivisible Project can be found at www.indivisible.org.

#Musique #Musique_et_politique #Tom_Waits #Marc_Ribot #USA #Bella_Ciao

Deux autres extraits :

Marc Ribot - « The Militant Ecologist (based on Fischia II Vento) » (feat. #Meshell_Ndegeocello)
▻https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKpDsBZVGQE

Marc Ribot - « Srinivas » (feat. #Steve_Earle & Tift Merritt)
►https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BszPwW2tpyM

Trump n’a qu’à bien se tenir !

Récentes chansons contre Trump :

Eric Bibb
►https://seenthis.net/messages/721203

Janelle Monae
►https://seenthis.net/messages/685655

Wow, les paroles de Srinivas :
▻https://genius.com/Marc-ribot-srinivas-lyrics

Dark was the night
Cold was the ground
When they shot Srinivas Kuchibhotla down

It was in Austin’s Bar and Grill
But it could’ve been most anyone
A madman pulled the trigger
Donald Trump loaded the gun
My country ’tis of thee

Srinivas was an engineer
Sunayana was his wife
Like so many here before them
They come here to build the life
They were plannin’ their first child
But it was not to be
But a stranger shot Srinivas down
Screamin’ “Get out of my country!”
My country ’tis of thee

I was born in America
And it’s right here I intend to stay
But my country’s hurtin’ now
There’s a few things I need to say
If you fly a flag of hate
Then you ain’t no kin to me
And to Srinivas Kuchibhotla’s surviving family

My country ’tis of thee
My country ’tis of thee
My country ’tis of thee
My country ’tis of thee

My country ’tis of thee
My country ’tis of thee
My country ’tis of thee
My country ’tis of thee

My country ’tis of thee (Kuchibhotla!)
My country ’tis of thee (Eric Garner!)
My country ’tis of thee (Heather Heyer!)
My country ’tis of thee (Susie Jackson!)

My country ’tis of thee (Tywanza Sanders! Ethel Lee Lance!)
My country ’tis of thee (Freddy Gray! Tamir Rice!)
My country ’tis of thee (Frankie Best! Amadou Diallo!)
My country ’tis of thee (Michael Brown! David Simmons!)
My country ’tis of thee (Myra Thompson! Sharonda Singleton!)

#Black_Lives_Matter #Srinivas_Kuchibhotla #Eric_Garner #Heather_Heyer #Susie_Jackson #Tywanza_Sanders #Ethel_Lee_Lance #Freddy_Gray #Tamir_Rice #Frankie_Best #Amadou_Diallo #Michael_Brown #David_Simmons #Myra_Thompson #Sharonda_Singleton

6 mois plus tôt, il attaquait déjà Trump avec le titre Never Again (Muslim Jewish Resistance), avec le groupe Ceramic Dog :
►https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SP7bdigwRgU

Marc Ribot ne fait pas que de la politique ou du jazz, il a longtemps été guitariste accompagnateur, y compris du grand Solomon Burke, et connaît donc ses classiques de soul, comme ici le I Found a Love de Wilson Pickett, avec Buddy Miller :
▻https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smHBuUodbAY

Encore une « chanson » anti-Trump, ou plutôt une Fugue, Donald Trump is a Wanker :
►https://seenthis.net/messages/722115

►https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZxCAqCUgug

▻https://www.fip.fr/actualites/tom-waits-reprend-bella-ciao-avec-marc-ribot-33846
▻https://marcribot.bandcamp.com/album/songs-of-resistance-1942-2018

Je viens d’acheter le CD. Le livret est super, avec de très beaux textes engagés et en colère de Marc Ribot. Et comme il a oublié d’y inclure les « détails » techniques, les musiciens etc., il a décidé de les ajouter sur une version pdf du livret qui est du coup entièrement disponible ici :
▻http://media.virbcdn.com/files/6a/929905becc73ee8e-MarcRibot_SongsofResistance_DigitalBooklet.pdf

A propos de la chanson Rata de dos patas, il précise :

Due to the fears that Trump regime retaliation would threaten her visa status, the vocalist on this recording of Rata De Dos Patas has requested that we delete all reference to her identity. We believe her fears are entirely justified, and have complied with her wishes.

We thank her for her wonderful performance, and for her great courage in making the recording at all. And we look forward to a day when political and artistic expression is no longer under the shadow of such vindicative and racist repression. Venceremos!

BELLA CIAO
Italian traditional; Arranged by Marc Ribot
& Tom Waits; Translated by Marc Ribot

One fine morning / woke up early
Bella ciao, bella ciao, goodbye beautiful
One fine morning / woke up early
To find a fascist at my door
Oh partigiano, please take me with you
Bella ciao, bella ciao, goodbye beautiful
Oh partigiano, please take me with you
I’m not afraid now anymore.
And if I die a partigiano
Bella ciao, bella ciao, goodbye beautiful
Please bury me up on that mountain
In the shadow of a flower
So all the people, people passing
Bella ciao, bella ciao, goodbye beautiful
All the people, the people passing
Can say: what a beautiful flower
This is the flower / of the partisan
Bella ciao, bella ciao, goodbye beautiful
This is the flower / of the partisan
Who died for freedom

THE MILITANT ECOLOGIST
[based on FISCHIA IL VENTO]
Written by Marc Ribot (Knockwurst Music);
Inspired by the Italian traditional

The wind it howls, the storm around is raging
Our shoes are broken, still we must go on
The war we fight, is no longer for liberty
Just the possibility / of a future.
Underground, the militant ecologist
Like a shadow emerges from the night
The stars above, guide her on her mission
Strong her heart swift her arm to strike
If, by chance, cruel death will find you
Know your comrades will revenge
We’ll track down the ones who hurt you
Their fate’s already sealed.
The wind is still, the storm is finally over
The militant ecologist blends back into the shadows
Somewhere above, the earth’s green flag is flying
We don’t have to live in terror
Somewhere above, the earth’s green flag is flying
The only flag that matters now
Somewhere above, the earth’s green flag is flying
And if its not...
there’s nothing more to say.

Son premier texte, où il se pose des questions sur la possibilité de résister en tant que musicien :

My grandparents lost brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts and uncles in the Holocaust, and I’ve toured and have friends in Russia and Turkey: we recognize Trump, and it’s no mystery where we will wind up if we don’t push back.

Its not that things before Trump were any picnic: the many victims of racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia, and war under earlier presidents – some of them Democrats—are not forgotten; and even among the politicians for whom I voted, few were willing to address the structural causes of these problems.

But even the most pissed off of my activist friends knew right away that Trumpism was seriously wrong, and that resistance—not just protest, which by definition acknowledges the legitimacy of the power to which it appeals—had to be planned.

I’m a musician, so I began my practice of resistance with music.

Normally, I practice by studying the past (“Ancient to the Future!” as the Art Ensemble of Chicago put it—and as Hannah Arendt might have if she’d been a jazz musician), and then blowing on or reconstructing or simply misreading those changes until they become useful in the present.

So, I went back to archives of political music known for years and listened again—trying to find what was useful now. I found songs from the World War II anti-Fascist Italian partisans (“Bella Ciao,” “Fischia il Vento”), the U.S. civil rights movement (“We’ll Never Turn Back,” “We Are Soldiers in the Army”), a political song originally recorded by Mexican artist Paquita la del Barrio, had disguised as a romantic ballad (“Rata de Dos Patas”).

I also wrote songs: things I heard at demonstrations, and newspaper and television stories that I couldn’t process any other way wound up as lyrics. I changed these found texts as little as possible: much of “Srinivas” is a metered version of news articles on Srinivas Kuchibhotla a Sikh immigrant murdered in February 2017 by a racist who mistook him for a Muslim. And “John Brown” really did “kill... five slaveholders at the Pottawatomie creek”).

By March 2017, I had the material for Goodbye Beautiful/Songs of Resistance.

I make no claims of historical “authenticity” about the arrangements of archival songs on the record— although I hope they work on more than one level, the arrangements and composition songs on this CD were written and performed, without apology, as agitprop. I borrowed from, referenced, and quoted public domain song as much as I could, wanting to harness the power of our rich traditions to the needs of the current struggle wherever possible. For the same reason, I altered texts and arrangements freely, as political song makers have always done.

The underlying politics of this recording is that of the Popular Front: the idea that those of us with democratic values need to put aside our differences long enough to defeat those who threaten them.

Although this approach has its frustrations, it worked last time around (1942-45).

Coordinating a multi-artist recording like this wasn’t easy: although the artists involved were without exception enthusiastic and helpful.

But the madness of the past year kept us moving when things got bogged down: we recorded Justin Vivian Bond’s “We’ll Never Turn Back” literally while Donald Trump was delivering a friendly speech to anti-gay hate groups in Washington DC. Tom Waits’ “Bella Ciao” was recorded near Santa Rosa, in the haze of smoke from 1,500 homes destroyed by wildfires attributed partly to global warming.

Not a day goes by that I don’t think about the fact that we’re living through what may be the last years of possibility to lessen the degree of catastrophic climate change which will be experienced by our kids.

And what I think is that thinking isn’t enough.

The same can be said of singing.

Profits from this CD will be donated to The Indivisible Project, a 501c4 organization creating a political response to Trump. They now have chapters in EVERY congressional district, and work to build the local and national networks we need. I have a lot of friends who think that ANY kind of politics isn’t cool. I appreciate the sentiment, but: we need to get over it, roll up our sleeves and get our hands dirty if we’re going to survive this thing.

I want to thank all the Artists and musicians who sang or played on this cd, not only for their time and great performances, but for their critiques and insights, musical and political, that shaped this recording at every stage.

Although my intention in organizing this recording has been to express solidarity with everyone victimized by the current regime, finding a way to express that solidarity without repeating old patterns of oppression is not easy. I hope the dialogue and spirit of solidarity begun among the performers on this recording will continue with its listeners and spread even further...

M Ribot

–-----------------------------------
Son deuxième texte, où il se pose des questions sur les défauts de la musique engagée :

Post Script:

The question of ‘the good fight’—how to fight an enemy without becoming it—hangs over “political” art (as the question of truthfulness hang over art claiming to have transcended the political). Indeed, Left and Fascist song do share musical commonalities. (Armies fighting for causes good and bad all need songs to march to).

This recording won’t resolve that question.

But I’ve noted a difference between the marching songs of fascism and those of the partisan and civil rights movements: a willingness to acknowledge sadness:

“We are soldiers in the army...
We have to fight, we also have to cry.”

“And if I die a partisan,
Goodbye beautiful, goodbye beautiful, goodbye beautiful,
Please bury me on that mountain, in the shadow of a flower.”

“I am a pilgrim of sorrow, walking through this world alone.
I have no hope for tomorrow, but I’m starting to make it my home.”

“...a thousand mill lofts grey
are touched by all the beauty
a sudden sun exposes
Yes it is bread we fight for, but we also fight for roses.”

These songs’ acknowledgement of human frailty, of the fact that “we have to cry” even as “we have to fight”, is for me a sign of enormous strength. Their vision of a beauty beyond victory is for me a sign of hope, a reminder that we at least have something worth fighting for.

M Ribot
November, 2017

A mettre sur la compilation de chansons contre #Donald_Trump
►https://seenthis.net/messages/727919

j’ai rajouté la traduction française

#musique

How and Why We Invented the CryptoSeal

https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/2000/1*sNx4vSzk0VLm4C_OBXcRHw.jpeg

“We can now put a tiny computer chip with cryptographic identity into a slim adhesive seal strip form factor to secure a package,” said one of our software engineers, Maksym Petkus, “enabling mathematically- and cryptographically-closed loop integration with the blockchain and secure high-value assets with this tamper-evident technology.”

Today, at the ID Tech Expo in Santa Clara, we announced the release of our CryptoSeal prototype, representing a major step forward in immutable supply chain provenance and the secure movement of physical assets.
What is a CryptoSeal?

The first in what will be a line of blockchain-registered and tamper-evident hardware products, CryptoSeals each contain a Near Field Communication (NFC) chip embedded with unique identity information. This identity data is then immutably registered and verified on a blockchain (we currently offer support for Ethereum and plan to expand to other blockchains, including Bitcoin, Zcash, Hyperledger, and Symbiont).

The tamper-evident form factor, developed in collaboration with Cellotape Smart Products, registers not only the identity of an object onto the blockchain, but also records the identity of its registrant and packaging or asset metadata. And, with their customizable size allowing application to a variety of packages, from envelopes to shipping containers, CryptoSeals have the ability to securely verify sender identity and timestamp shipment deliveries, and provide a secure chain of custody in the supply chain.
Why do you need a blockchain?

Our CEO, Ryan Orr, likes to compare the CryptoSeal to the King’s Signet Ring: “you can think of it like the old system of the Signet Ring stamping a wax seal on a letter. The signet holder is analogous to the registrant of the CryptoSeal, the wax to the chip inside of the seal, and the stamping of the signet is like the signing of the CryptoSeal to the Blockchain. On its own each component, from the cryptographic chips to the tamper evident seals and blockchain registration, is necessary but insufficient to solve the problem. Together the three technologies create a strong solution.”
Who can benefit from using CryptoSeals?

Our CryptoSeals can be affixed to any physical item, guaranteeing its identity and authenticity in an unforgeable way. There are more than a handful of business use cases for our new product, which combines the best of blockchain technology and Internet of Things (or Everything, as we like to call it): medical equipment, fine art, electronics, cold chain, and forensic evidence tracking, to name a few. Individual consumers also benefit in being able to verify and protect their artistic creations, secure luggage, ship high-value items internationally, as well as prove authenticity of items they buy and sell on secondary markets.

One of the most exciting use cases of the CryptoSeal for us at Chronicled is pharmaceutical tracking, where a secure chain of custody and immutable provenance are needed but often lacking. The high monetary value, along with the human suffering, associated with fraudulent pharmaceuticals necessitates new solutions for tracking authenticity. According to Interpol, Operation Pangea, their pharmaceutical investigation, seized 2.4M fraudulent pills in 2011; four years later, in 2015, that skyrocketed to 20.7M.

The estimated monetary value? $81M USD.

We can directly address this problem. Chronicled’s CryptoSeals can be customized to fit and seal shipments of pharmaceuticals, including individual cartons and containers. If the antenna in the adhesive seal is broken at any time, it will be impossible to verify the chip inside the CryptoSeal, ensuring that patients have confidence when they receive legitimate, untampered-with pharmaceuticals.
When will CryptoSeals be available?

Our CryptoSeals will begin entering the market late this year with standard offerings and unique solutions, with customizable sizing and adhesives, for clients.

You can learn more on our website or contact us! And, to stay up to date with our work, sign up for our mailing list below.

▻https://blog.chronicled.com/how-and-why-we-invented-the-cryptoseal-6577d8633a2

Cc @emma_degio

New figures reveal at least 449 homeless deaths in UK in the last year

On the streets, in a hospital, a hostel or a B&B: across the UK the deaths of people without a home have gone unnoticed.

Tonight we’re attempting to shed new light on a hidden tragedy.

Research by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism suggests at least 449 homeless people have died in the UK in the last year – at least 65 of them on the streets.

The homeless charity Crisis says the figures are “deeply shocking”. They want such deaths to be better investigated and recorded.

▻https://www.channel4.com/news/new-figures-reveal-at-least-449-homeless-deaths-in-uk-in-the-last-year

#statistiques #chiffres

‘Appalling’ new figures reveal almost two people a week die while homeless

In late January it started snowing again. Yellow weather warnings were issued across Scotland, ice formed on the pavements and gritters were out in force.

▻https://theferret.scot/two-people-per-week-die-homeless
#Ecosse

Several of those that died suffered violence. #Arunesh_Thangarajah was found stabbed to death in Mitcham, in Surrey, aged 26. A friend told the Evening Standard "He was a good friend, like a brother. I only spoke to him the night before - I can’t believe it.”

https://i.imgur.com/jNSZ0wG.jpg

#Jayne_Simpson ’s body was found near a bank in the town centre of Stafford. Her mother told local press how Jayne was “a genuinely lovely person” but had struggled with alcohol. More than a hundred people came to her funeral

https://i.imgur.com/faG15lE.jpg

Three men’s bodies were found in a state of decomposition, including #Philip_Luce who was living in a forest in the outskirts of Bristol. His body was found in an abandoned building near a local cricket club. His date and cause of death is unknown

https://i.imgur.com/MH4f14q.jpg

▻https://twitter.com/TBIJ/status/1049365995381575680

#Robert_Wallis was found dead in his sleeping bag at a homeless shelter where his mum was staying too: “I knew he was ill, but this came completely out of the blue.... I have no idea what my future holds now.”

https://i.imgur.com/l3oQWDc.jpg

#Tracy_Patsalides died in a beach shelter in Eastbourne. Her friend said “She used to light up a room when she walked in, she’d have a smile on her face." Well-wishers left tributes to her on the beach

https://i.imgur.com/iJVx9VG.jpg

▻https://twitter.com/TBIJ/status/1049365154679414784

#Hamid_Farahi was a quantum physicist who fled the war in Iraq - and was shortlisted for a job as Stephen Hawking’s graduate assistant. Suffering from PTSD, he ended up living in a Tesco car park, but moved into a shelter as the weather got colder, where he died

https://i.imgur.com/aLDBUsT.jpg

#Valerie_Collins died in Peterborough. A mother and grandmother, she had made a small garden of potted plants outside local shop entrances to cheer the place up. Her body was found in a car park

https://i.imgur.com/WJXgE6h.jpg

Those deaths include #Chris_Conlin, 31, in Leigh, near Wigan, who became homeless after the death of his mother and brother. Local residents said he would feed his dog before himself

https://i.imgur.com/Gh0cMfj.jpg

“A national scandal”: 449 people died homeless in the last year

A grandmother who made potted plant gardens in shop doorways, found dead in a car park. A 51-year-old man who killed himself the day before his temporary accommodation ran out. A man who was tipped into a bin lorry while he slept.

These tragic stories represent just a few of at least 449 people who the Bureau can today reveal have died while homeless in the UK in the last 12 months - more than one person per day.

After learning that no official body counted the number of homeless people who have died, we set out to record all such deaths over the course of one year. Working with local journalists, charities and grassroots outreach groups to gather as much information as possible, the Bureau has compiled a first-of-its-kind database which lists the names of the dead and more importantly, tells their stories.

The findings have sparked outrage amongst homeless charities, with one expert calling the work a “wake-up call to see homelessness as a national emergency”.

Our investigation has prompted the Office for National Statistics to start producing its own figure on homeless deaths.

We found out about the deaths of hundreds of people, some as young as 18 and some as old as 94. They included a former soldier, a quantum physicist, a travelling musician, a father of two who volunteered in his community, and a chatty Big Issue seller. The true figure is likely to be much higher.

Some were found in shop doorways in the height of summer, others in tents hidden in winter woodland. Some were sent, terminally ill, to dingy hostels, while others died in temporary accommodation or hospital beds. Some lay dead for hours, weeks or months before anyone found them. Three men’s bodies were so badly decomposed by the time they were discovered that forensic testing was needed to identify them.

They died from violence, drug overdoses, illnesses, suicide and murder, among other reasons. One man’s body showed signs of prolonged starvation.

“A national disgrace”

Charities and experts responded with shock at the Bureau’s findings. Howard Sinclair, St Mungo’s chief executive, said: “These figures are nothing short of a national scandal. These deaths are premature and entirely preventable.”

“This important investigation lays bare the true brutality of our housing crisis,” said Polly Neate, CEO of Shelter. “Rising levels of homelessness are a national disgrace, but it is utterly unforgivable that so many homeless people are dying unnoticed and unaccounted for.”
“This important investigation lays bare the true brutality of our housing crisis"

Our data shows homeless people are dying decades younger than the general population. The average age of the people whose deaths we recorded was 49 for men and 53 for women.

“We know that sleeping rough is dangerous, but this investigation reminds us it’s deadly,” said Jon Sparkes, chief executive of Crisis. “Those sleeping on our streets are exposed to everything from sub-zero temperatures, to violence and abuse, and fatal illnesses. They are 17 times more likely to be a victim of violence, twice as likely to die from infections, and nine times more likely to commit suicide.”

The Bureau’s Dying Homeless project has sparked widespread debate about the lack of data on homeless deaths.

Responding to our work, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has now confirmed that it will start compiling and releasing its own official estimate - a huge step forward.

For months the ONS has been analysing and cross-checking the Bureau’s database to create its own methodology for estimating homeless deaths, and plans to produce first-of-their-kind statistics in December this year.

A spokesperson said the information provided by the Bureau “helps us develop the most accurate method of identifying all the deaths that should be counted.”
Naming the dead

Tracking homeless deaths is a complex task. Homeless people die in many different circumstances in many different places, and the fact they don’t have a home is not recorded on death certificates, even if it is a contributing factor.

Click here to explore the full project

There are also different definitions of homelessness. We used the same definition as that used by homeless charity Crisis; it defines someone as homeless if they are sleeping rough, or in emergency or temporary accommodation such as hostels and B&Bs, or sofa-surfing. In Northern Ireland, we were only able to count the deaths of people registered as officially homeless by the Housing Executive, most of whom were in temporary accommodation while they waited to be housed.

For the past nine months we have attended funerals, interviewed family members, collected coroners’ reports, spoken to doctors, shadowed homeless outreach teams, contacted soup kitchens and hostels and compiled scores of Freedom of Information requests. We have scoured local press reports and collaborated with our Bureau Local network of regional journalists across the country. In Northern Ireland we worked with The Detail’s independent journalism team to find deaths there.

Of the 449 deaths in our database, we are able to publicly identify 138 people (we withheld the identity of dozens more at the request of those that knew them).

Of the cases in which we were able to find out where people died, more than half of the deaths happened on the streets.

These included mother-of-five Jayne Simpson, who died in the doorway of a highstreet bank in Stafford during the heatwave of early July. In the wake of her death the local charity that had been working with her, House of Bread, started a campaign called “Everyone knows a Jayne”, to try to raise awareness of how easy it is to fall into homelessness.

Forty-one-year-old Jean Louis Du Plessis also died on the streets in Bristol. He was found in his sleeping bag during the freezing weather conditions of Storm Eleanor. At his inquest the coroner found he had been in a state of “prolonged starvation”.

Russell Lane was sleeping in an industrial bin wrapped in an old carpet when it was tipped into a rubbish truck in Rochester in January. He suffered serious leg and hip injuries and died nine days later in hospital. He was 48 years old.

In other cases people died while in temporary accommodation, waiting for a permanent place to call home. Those included 30-year-old John Smith who was found dead on Christmas Day, in a hostel in Chester.

Or James Abbott who killed himself in a hotel in Croydon in October, the day before his stay in temporary accommodation was due to run out. A report from Lambeth Clinical Commissioning Group said: “He [Mr Abbott] said his primary need was accommodation and if this was provided he would not have an inclination to end his life.” We logged two other suicides amongst the deaths in the database.

Many more homeless people were likely to have died unrecorded in hospitals, according to Alex Bax, CEO of Pathways, a homeless charity that works inside several hospitals across England. “Deaths on the street are only one part of the picture,” he said. “Many homeless people also die in hospital and with the right broad response these deaths could be prevented.”
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Rising levels of homelessness

The number of people sleeping rough has doubled in England and Wales in the last five years, according to the latest figures, while the number of people classed as officially homeless has risen by 8%.

In Scotland the number of people applying to be classed as homeless rose last year for the first time in nine years. In Northern Ireland the number of homeless people rose by a third between 2012 and 2017.

Analysis of government figures also shows the number of people housed in bed and breakfast hotels in England and Wales increased by a third between 2012 and 2018, with the number of children and pregnant women in B&Bs and hostels rising by more than half.

“Unstable and expensive private renting, crippling welfare cuts and a severe lack of social housing have created this crisis,” said Shelter’s Neate. “To prevent more people from having to experience the trauma of homelessness, the government must ensure housing benefit is enough to cover the cost of rents, and urgently ramp up its efforts to build many more social homes.”

The sheer scale of people dying due to poverty and homelessness was horrifying, said Crisis chief executive Sparkes.“This is a wake-up call to see homelessness as a national emergency,” he said.

Breaking down the data

Across our dataset, 69% of those that died were men and 21% were women (for the remaining 10% we did not have their gender).

For those we could identify, their ages ranged between 18 and 94.

At least nine of the deaths we recorded over the year were due to violence, including several deaths which were later confirmed to be murders.

Over 250 were in England and Wales, in part because systems to count in London are better developed than elsewhere in the UK.

London was the location of at least 109 deaths. The capital has the highest recorded rough sleeper count in England, according to official statistics, and information on the well-being of those living homeless is held in a centralised system called CHAIN. This allowed us to easily record many of the deaths in the capital although we heard of many others deaths in London that weren’t part of the CHAIN data.

In Scotland, we found details of 42 people who died in Scotland in the last year, but this is likely a big underestimate. Many of the deaths we registered happened in Edinburgh, while others were logged from Glasgow, the Shetland Islands and the Outer Hebrides.
“We know that sleeping rough is dangerous, but this investigation reminds us it’s deadly”

Working with The Detail in Northern Ireland, we found details of 149 people who died in the country. Most died while waiting to be housed by the country’s Housing Executive - some may have been in leased accommodation while they waited, but they were officially classed as homeless.

“Not only will 449 families or significant others have to cope with their loss, they will have to face the injustice that their loved one was forced to live the last days of their life without the dignity of a decent roof over their head, and a basic safety net that might have prevented their death,” Sparkes from Crisis. No one deserves this.”

A spokesperson from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said:

“Every death of someone sleeping rough on our streets is one too many and we take this matter extremely seriously.

“We are investing £1.2bn to tackle all forms of homelessness, and have set out bold plans backed by £100m in funding to halve rough sleeping by 2022 and end it by 2027."

https://assets2.thebureauinvestigates.com/uploads/_headerExtraLarge/Homeless-collage-final-graded.png?mtime=20181008155734#.jpg

Homelessness kills: Study finds third of homeless people die from treatable conditions

Nearly a third of homeless people die from treatable conditions, meaning hundreds of deaths could potentially have been prevented, a major new study shows.

The research by University College London (UCL), which was exclusively shared with the Bureau, also shows that homeless people are much more likely to die from certain conditions than even the poorest people who have a place to live.

The findings come as the final count from our Dying Homeless project shows an average of 11 homeless people a week have died in the UK in the last 18 months. We have been collecting data dating back to October 2017 and telling the stories of those who have died on the streets or in temporary accommodation; our tally now stands at 796 people. Of those people we know the age of, more than a quarter were under 40 when then they died.

While many might assume hypothermia or drug and alcohol overdoses kill the majority of homeless people, this latest research by UCL shows that in fact most homeless people die from illnesses. Nearly a third of the deaths explored by UCL were from treatable illnesses like tuberculosis, pneumonia or gastric ulcers which could potentially have improved with the right medical care.

In February 2018, 48-year old Marcus Adams died in hospital after suffering from tuberculosis. The same year, 21 year old Faiza died in London, reportedly of multi-drug resistant pulmonary tuberculosis. Just before Christmas in 2017, 48-year-old former soldier Darren Greenfield died from an infection and a stroke in hospital. He had slept rough for years after leaving the army.

“To know that so many vulnerable people have died of conditions that were entirely treatable is heartbreaking,” said Matthew Downie, Director of Policy and External Affairs at Crisis. The government should make sure all homeless deaths were investigated to see if lessons could be learned, he said.

“But ultimately, 800 people dying homeless is unacceptable - we have the solutions to ensure no one has to spend their last days without a safe, stable roof over their head.
“To know that so many vulnerable people have died of conditions that were entirely treatable is heartbreaking”

“By tackling the root causes of homelessness, like building the number of social homes we need and making sure our welfare system is there to support people when they fall on hard times, governments in England, Scotland and Wales can build on the positive steps they’ve already taken to reduce and ultimately end homelessness.”
Twice as likely to die of strokes

Academics at UCL explored nearly 4,000 in-depth medical records for 600 people that died in English hospitals between 2013 and 2016 who were homeless when they were admitted. They compared them to the deaths of a similar group of people (in terms of age and sex) who had somewhere to live but were in the lowest socio-economic bracket.

The research gives unprecedented insight into the range of medical causes of homeless deaths, and provides yet another reminder of how deadly homelessness is.

The homeless group was disproportionately affected by cardiovascular disease, which includes strokes and heart disease. The researchers found homeless people were twice as likely to die of strokes as the poorest people who had proper accommodation.

A fifth of the 600 deaths explored by UCL were caused by cancer. Another fifth died from digestive diseases such as intestinal obstruction or pancreatitis.

Our database shows homeless people dying young from cancers, such as Istvan Kakas who died aged 52 in a hospice after battling leukaemia.

https://assets2.thebureauinvestigates.com/uploads/_storyImageSmall/istvan-kakas-large.jpg?mtime=20190311193359#.jpg

Istvan, who sold The Big Issue, had received a heroism award from the local mayor after he helped save a man and his daughter from drowning. Originally from Hungary, he had previously worked as a chef under both Gordon Ramsay and Michael Caines.

Rob Aldridge, lead academic on the UCL team, told the Bureau: “Our research highlights a failure of the health system to care for this vulnerable group in a timely and appropriate manner.”

“We need to identify homeless individuals at risk earlier and develop models of care that enable them to engage with interventions proven to either prevent or improve outcomes for early onset chronic disease.”

Of the deaths we have logged in the UK 78% were men, while 22% were female (of those where the gender was known). The average age of death for men was 49 years old and 53 years old for women.

“It is easy for them to get lost in the system and forgotten about”
The spread of tuberculosis

In Luton, Paul Prosser from the NOAH welfare centre has seen a worrying prevalence of tuberculosis, particularly amongst the rough sleeping migrant community. A service visits the centre three times a year, screening for TB. “Last time they came they found eight people with signs of the illness, that’s really concerning,” said Prosser.

“There are a lot of empty commercial properties in Luton and you find large groups of desperate homeless people, often migrants, squatting in them. It is easy for them to get lost in the system and forgotten about and then, living in such close quarters, that is when the infection can spread.”

“When people dip in and out of treatment that is when they build a resistance to the drugs,” Prosser added. “Some of these people are leading chaotic lives and if they are not engaging that well with the treatment due to having nowhere to live then potentially that is when they become infectious.”

One man NOAH was helping, Robert, died in mid-2017 after moving from Luton to London. The man, originally from Romania, had been suffering from TB for a long time but would only access treatment sporadically. He was living and working at a car-wash, as well as rough sleeping at the local airport.

Making them count

For the last year the Bureau has been logging the names and details of people that have died homeless since October 1, 2017. We started our count after discovering that no single body or organisation was recording if and when people were dying while homeless.

More than 80 local news stories have been written about the work and our online form asking for details of deaths has been filled in more than 140 times.

Our work and #MakeThemCount hashtag called for an official body to start collecting this vital data, and we were delighted to announce last October that the Office for National Statistics is now collating these figures. We opened up our database to ONS statisticians to help them develop their methodology.

We also revealed that local authority reviews into homeless deaths, which are supposed to take place, were rarely happening. Several councils, including Brighton & Hove, Oxford, Malvern and Leeds have now said they will undertake their own reviews into deaths in their area, while others, such as Haringey, have put in place new measures to log how and when people die homeless.

Councillor Emina Ibrahim, Haringey Council’s Cabinet Member for Housing, told the Bureau: “The deaths of homeless people are frequently missed in formal reviews, with their lives unremembered. Our new procedure looks to change that and will play an important part in helping us to reduce these devastating and avoidable deaths.”

Members of the public have also come together to remember those that passed away. In the last year there have been protests in Belfast, Birmingham and Manchester, memorial services in Brighton, Luton and London, and physical markers erected in Long Eaton and Northampton. Last week concerned citizens met in Oxford to discuss a spate of homeless deaths in the city.

In a response to the scale of the deaths, homeless grassroots organisation Streets Kitchen are now helping to organise a protest and vigil which will take place later this week, in London and Manchester.

After a year of reporting on this issue, the Bureau is now happy to announce we are handing over the counting project to the Museum of Homelessness, an organisation which archives, researches and presents information and stories on homelessness.
“The sheer number of people who are dying whilst homeless, often avoidably, is a national scandal”

The organisation’s co-founder Jess Turtle said they were honoured to be taking on this “massively important” work.

“The sheer number of people who are dying whilst homeless, often avoidably, is a national scandal,” she said. “Museum of Homelessness will continue to honour these lives and we will work with our community to campaign for change as long as is necessary.”

Matt Downie from Crisis said the Bureau’s work on the issue had achieved major impact. “As it comes to an end, it is difficult to overstate the importance of the Dying Homeless Project, which has shed new light on a subject that was ignored for too long,” he said. “It is an encouraging step that the ONS has begun to count these deaths and that the stories of those who have so tragically lost their lives will live on through the Museum of Homelessness.”

The government has pledged to end rough sleeping by 2027, and has pledged £100m to try to achieve that goal, as part of an overall £1.2bn investment into tackling homelessness.

“No one is meant to spend their lives on the streets, or without a home to call their own,” said Communities Secretary James Brokenshire. “Every death on our streets is too many and it is simply unacceptable to see lives cut short this way.”

“I am also committed to ensuring independent reviews into the deaths of rough sleepers are conducted, where appropriate – and I will be holding local authorities to account in doing just that.”

▻https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2019-03-11/homelessness-kills

#statistiques #chiffres #mortalité

Homeless Link responds to Channel 4 report on homeless deaths

Today, The Bureau Investigative of Journalism released figures that revealed almost 800 people who are homeless have died over the last 18 months, which is an average of 11 every week. The report also shows that a third (30%) of the homeless deaths were from treatable conditions that could have improved with the right medical care.
Many other deaths in the study, beyond that third, were from causes like suicide and homicide.

Responding Rick Henderson, Chief Executive of Homeless Link, said: “These figures bring to light the shocking inequalities that people who experience homelessness face. People are dying on our streets and a significant number of them are dying from treatable or preventable health conditions.

“We must address the fact that homelessness is a key health inequality and one of the causes of premature death. People who are experiencing homelessness struggle to access our health services. Core services are often too exclusionary or inflexible for people who are homeless with multiple and complex needs. This means people aren’t able to access help when they need it, instead being forced to use A&E to “patch up” their conditions before being discharged back to the streets. Services need to be accessible, for example by expanding walk-in primary care clinics or offering longer GP appointment times to deal with people experiencing multiple needs. We also need to expand specialist health services for people who are homeless to stop people falling through the gaps.

“This research also highlights the other causes of death that people who are homeless are more likely to experience. Research shows that people who are homeless are over nine times more likely to take their own life than the general population and 17 times more likely to be the victims of violence.

“Homeless Link is calling on the Government in its upcoming Prevention Green Paper to focus on addressing these inequalities, start to tackle the structural causes of homelessness, and make sure everyone has an affordable, healthy and safe place to call home and the support they need to keep it.”

▻https://www.homeless.org.uk/connect/news/2019/mar/11/homeless-link-responds-to-channel-4-report-on-homeless-deaths