Re: San Francisco Street Sheet's Take on The Big Issue
Tom Boland (wgcp@earthlink.net)
Fri, 23 Jan 1998 23:49:40 -0800 (PST)
My personal hunch is that "commercial street papers" will do little to
contest the unfair skewing of wealth and power. But in the "political
rags" too, homeless people can be mere window dressing--not really in
charge. Street rags do at least put some change in homeless folks' pockets.
When others speak for homeless people without our consent, it's not
progressive, it's domestic colonialism. For homeless-managed media!--Tom
Boland
Paul Boden wrote in the February issue of the San Francisco Street Sheet:
> Yet another aspect of homelesness has gone corporate. Street
>newspapers.
>
> The Big Issue, a slick, glossy paper started in England and sold
>by homeless people has olanded on the shores of Los Angeles. Having
>already spread throughout Europe, South Africa, and Australia they have
>turned their greedy little eyes on here.
>
> The paper calls itself The Big Issue leaving people (especially
>advertisers) with the impression that the big issue is homelessness. Yet
>homeless issues by their own admission is only aboutg 20% of the paper's
>content and homeless people are an even smaller percentage of the paper's
>multi-national staff.....
>
> The Big Issue is about big bucks pure and simple. Dishing out a
>few nickles and dimes to some homeless people doesn't change that and
>doesn't make them any less of a "Poverty Pimp". They are exploiting
>homelessness to sell their advertising and homeless people as a cheap
>(charged) labor source to sell their product.