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About Me
- rn
- I spent most of the past four years hanging out with street hawkers, smugglers, and sub-rosa import/export firms to write Stealth of Nations, a book that chronicles the global growth of System D--the parallel economic arena that today accounts for half the jobs on the planet. Prior to that, I lived in squatter communities across four continents to write Shadow Cities, a book that attempts to humanize these vibrant, energetic, and horribly misunderstood communities. My articles on cities, politics, and economic issues have appeared in many publications, including Harper's, Scientific American, Forbes, Fortune, The Nation, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Metropolis, and City Limits. Before becoming a reporter, I worked as a community organizer and studied philosophy. I live in New York City and do most of my writing on manual typewriters.
2 comments:
That is just so sad. How does this happen...
I'm sure you can imagine all the reasons:
Fires happen because:
1. electric service in these communities is generally purchased illegally, so wires are not strong enough to handle the load.
2. Residents have to burn garbage because there's not sanitation pickup.
3. residents often cook with charcoal or kerosene. A small spill or misplaced ember and the wood framing of a house can start burning.
Fires spread rapidly because the community has no piped in water.
The fire department is late because:
1. there are no fire alarm boxes, so until someone calls the fire department, it may not know about a fire.
2. there are no roads, so fire trucks can't get into the squatter community, and there are no hydrants anyway.
But all of these are a subset of another issue: the government, the powers that be, the economic interests simply don't care about the squatter communities. So they continue to burn.
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