City tour with “Surprise” magazine shows the invisible poverty in Basel
Many people think that poverty is a marginal phenomenon. However, according to Markus Christen, this is definitely no longer the case. Mr Christen has organised “Surprise” magazine city tours for the last five years.
Although he himself has never been homeless, Mr Christen nonetheless knows the problems of being poor. The trained typographer and later bus driver was unemployed for a long time before he settled down again as a city guide for “Surprise”, a Basel street magazine which supports marginalised and unemployed people. With these tours, he hopes to challenge the public’s obliviousness of the problem.
Homelessness is on the rise
The numbers are clear: poverty in Basel is on the rise. While there are only a few people who have to literally live on the streets, the number of homeless people who constantly have to change their address is increasing. In 2015, there were around 170 such homeless people in Basel – this number has grown to 400 since then.
But there are a lot of undocumented cases as well. As Mr Christen said, many people affected by poverty do not seek help from social services, even though this is their right. They prefer to stay quiet about their problems. For many, poverty is a constant battle with their pride. It is an inner conflict which is not easy to solve and that will leave its mark on most long after the hard times are behind them.
It took Mr Christen a long time to decide when he was asked by “Surprise” whether he wanted to offer city tours. He was hesitant at first. The thought of having to talk in front of complete strangers for two hours was terrifying, and he declined the offer several times. “If your self-esteem is on the floor, you do not really want to step into the limelight,” Mr Christen said. But now, five years later, he is glad that he eventually changed his mind. Not only because it helped him personally but also because challenging obliviousness and ignorance is a matter close to Mr Christen’s heart.
The city would prefer poverty to be invisible
Basel tries to make poverty invisible. Even though everyone has the right to be everywhere in public spaces, undesired persons are driven away with repeated controls. If you are searched for the fourth time within two hours, “everyone will move on sooner or later”, said Mr Christen. The newest park benches even have an inbuilt “ejection mechanism”. According to journalists, the acquisition requirements for benches state: “It must be a type that provides the least comfort when lying down.” Alternatively, an automated sprinkler system is installed. During night time, it sprays water on the areas frequented by homeless people – under the pretence that one cannot water the area at day.
The city tour passes the daily meeting points of the poor and homeless people in Kleinbasel. The soup kitchen is our first stop. The building was bought by the Christoph Merian Foundation to offer a permanent home to the kitchen and avoid being evicted by other parties. Particularly corners like the one between Lindenberg, Riehentorstrasse, and Rebgasse towards the Rhine are delicate zones.
For one, many social services institutions are located in this area – on the other hand, a lot of the old buildings are under pressure of becoming high-priced residential properties. Increased gentrification and the automatisation of qualified work are pushing the lower middle class closer to poverty as well, Mr Christen said.
The “Caritas Kleiderladen”, a clothes shop for poor people, installed a counselling centre on its first floor, and has therefore become an important meeting point in the social fabric. Here, we learn that even social work based on voluntary donations costs money. “We have experienced some difficult times here,” we are told during our visit. There is no deficit guarantee, and all losses need to be paid by the team itself. This is a core conflict among many social service groups.
The groups’ goal is not just providing people with basic services – they are also fighting social isolation. The only institution which is financed exclusively by the state sector is the Basel emergency shelter. Administration is another problem: An address is needed to apply for social help. The “Schwarzer Peter” social services association offers a public address for anyone who has no permanent home. The Elim house is entirely financed by donations, and “Surprise” also gains only 65 per cent of its revenue by selling magazines. Patrons, donors, and volunteers are crucial for the filigree network of the city safety net for all the people who have fallen on hard times. The city tours themselves are a part of this. They show the interests of displaced and undesired people to the public.
Social city tours are successful
The social city tours began in Basel in 2013 – 18 months later, Zurich joined the cause. Bern launched its own social city tours on 22 January. There have already been 1,344 tours in Basel, with around 18,962 people taking part. Those who study “Social Work” at the University of Applied Sciences of Northwestern Switzerland are required to go on these tours. It is important for future social workers to know where their clientele is located – because the city that prefers to ignore them, many homeless and poor people are in hiding. And many are also not ready to admit that they are in a tight spot. A lot of work still needs to be done, Mr Christen said.
To counteract the city’s attempts to make this increasing poverty disappear from public view, a network needs to be established to deal with the consequences and help the people who are ashamed of their situation. “Poverty is real. It must not remain hidden,” Mr Christen says as our tour through Kleinbasel reaches its end after almost two hours. These tours help to make facts visible again.
Witnesses sought after parked car is damaged
The police are looking for witnesses after a parked car was damaged at Mittlere Strasse 31 between Sunday, 28 January and Saturday, 3 February. The person who caused the damage did not report the damage to the police or look for the car’s owner. Instead, they left the scene.
An unidentified observer stuck a slip of paper to the windscreen of the damaged car to alert them to the damage. The unidentified person who saw what happened, or anyone else who can provide relevant information about the incident is asked to contact the traffic police on phone number 061 699 12 12 or via the email address KapoVrk.VLZ@jsd.bs.ch.