Characteristics of slums - urban poor?

[Zeynep Tufekcioglu <zeynept@xxxxxxxx>]

The May Day events here have sparked a debate in the left and in the
bourgeois press about the slum populations and "underclass", or "urban poor".

I'm wondering if anyone in the list has any ideas about the subject, or
recommendations for books and/or articles.

The outline of the debate is this;
- The bourgeois press called the events the "anger of the urban poor". Many
involved in the smashing of shops and banks were youth, obviously from the
slums.
- Some of the left distanced themselves, claming the riot-like events were
well, too much.
- Some of the left are embracing the event, as a picture of things to come.

Our position up till now is;
In Turkey, there is no "urban poor" as a distint entity from the working
class. (There may be different experiences otherplaces, I'm interested). The
slum population consists of regular working class, and unemployed, and
irregularly employed. The urban poor is not a Marxist category, even a
sociological category in this country.
Also, the anger of the youth serves as a means of discharge, not charge for
further action. The proletariat, with all its strata, should make the leap
>from reacting against oppression to the organised social class struggle.

Anyway, most of the points might be pretty local. The dilemna between
embracing and rejecting the event seems to be a false dilemna to me. The
alternative path lies in the organised and systemetic action of the working
class obviously, conquering more permanent positions in the class war,
instead of the periodic surges and burning out.

The "urban poor" debate is pretty new here, I guess the Latin American
countries like Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Bolivia, Columbia have had a
different experience. Peruvian comrades might also be familiar with the debate.

There'll be lot of polemic for the next few months.

Regards,
Zeynep



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