Sunday June 06, 2021 - 06:04:00 PM In the previous article entitled “ABAG’s 9000”, we dealt with the underlying political economy of a recent state "requirement" that Berkeley build 9000 new housing units in the next 8 years. But a number of issues were revealed that need greater discussion. One is the real nature of the law driving it. Another is its constitutionality. And finally, there is the issue of housing as a human right. How do we make that idea real, today? You’ve probably heard of MS-13 (it gets a bit of play once in a while on cop shows). The "MS" stands for Mara Salvatrucha. It is a Salvadorian gang that formed among Salvadorian immigrant and exile communities in California during a "proxy" civil war in El Salvador in the 1980s instigated by the US. Like any gang, it had its needs, and it imposed those needs on those it thought could possibly fulfill them.