the People's Summit

Cuba! Africa! Revolution! Screening and Discussion

2009-07-27T19:46:00.001-07:00

See the acclaimed documentary, Cuba! Africa! Revolution!, at 5920 Second Ave., Detroit (just north of Wayne State and I-94). The documentary will be shown in two parts. There will will a discussion following the viewing of each part.

Part 1 - Friday, July 31, 7 PM

Part 2 - Friday, Aug. 7, 7 PM

Jihan El Tahri’s 2007 documentary “CUBA! AFRICA! REVOLUTION!” (aka “Cuba, an African Odyssey”) tells the previously untold story of Cuba’s support for African revolutions.

This documentary unravels the story of the so-called Cold War, through the prism of its least known arena: Africa. Against colonialism, capitalism, and communism, the newly independent nations fought to gain real control of their own countries and their valuable natural resources.

This is a must watch for anyone who seeks to view history through a balanced and accurate prism. This is a true and important side of history seldom told by the US mainstream Media or in Institutions of "Learning".
- Pan-African News Wire, Feb. 13, 2009

Suggested donation: $5 or whatever you can afford

Call 313-671-3715 for more information.

Sponsored by Workers World Party

Aug. 1 People's Summit Coalition Meeting

2009-07-27T18:47:00.000-07:00

People's Summit Coalition Meeting
Saturday, Aug. 1, 2 PM
MCHT Building ( old Kresge Eye Institute, near Masonic Temple)
2720 Second Ave.
Enter parking lot from Temple, between Second and Third

DTE Protest Pictures-July 24, 2009

2009-07-27T17:37:00.000-07:00

Click for DTE Protest Pics
Click for more DTE Protest Pics

Demonstration to Protest the military coup d'état in Honduras and Protest Israeli piracy and kidnapping human rights workers

2009-06-30T22:38:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, July 1, 4:30 PM

Hart Plaza, Woodward & Jefferson, Detroit

Demand the restoration of the Manuel Zelaya as president of Honduras
Demand that the U.S. cut off all economic and military aid to the military junta

Demand that Israel let the Humanitarian Aid through to Gaza
Demand that Israel free Cynthia McKinney and all kidnapped human rights workers
Demand that Israel stop the blockade of Gaza

In addition to protesting the illegal military coup d'état and removal of President Manuel Zelaya in Honduras, we must add additional demands protesting the siezure of the Free Gaza Movement boat, the SPIRIT OF HUMANITY and the abduction of 21 human rights workers, including former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, in international waters by the Israeli "Defense" Forces last night.

Join us Wednesday in solidarity with the people of Honduras and Palestine.
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Last night, Israeli Occupation Forces attacked and boarded the Free Gaza Movement boat, the SPIRIT OF HUMANITY, abducting 21 human rights workers from 11 countries, including Noble laureate Mairead Maguire and former U.S. Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney. The passengers and crew are being forcibly dragged toward Israel.

The seizure of humanitarian supplies and abduction of human rights workers is an act of piracy, a crime under international law. When the boat was attacked, it was not in Israeli waters and was on a human rights mission to Gaza. Israel's deliberate and premeditated attack on an unarmed boat in international waters is a clear violation of international law.

According to an International Committee of the Red Cross report released yesterday, the Palestinians living in Gaza are "trapped in despair." Thousands of Gazans whose homes were destroyed earlier during Israel's December/January massacre are still without shelter despite pledges of almost $4.5 billion in aid, because Israel refuses to allow cement and other building material into the Gaza Strip. The report also notes that hospitals are struggling to meet the needs of their patients due to Israel's disruption of medical supplies.

Demonstration to Protest the military coup d'état in Honduras

2009-06-29T23:00:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, July 1, 4:30 PM
Hart Plaza, Woodward & Jefferson, Detroit

Demand the restoration of the Manuel Zelaya as president of Honduras

Demand that the U.S. cut off all economic and military aid to the military junta

On Sunday, June 28, the democratically elected president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, was overthrown by the U.S. trained, and equipped Honduran military. Honduran soldiers invaded the residence of President Zelaya as he slept, and forcibly exiled the president to Costa Rica, just hours before a nationwide referendum was scheduled to take place.

It has been reported that the ambassadors of Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua in Honduras have been kidnapped along with Honduran Foreign Minister Patricia Rodas, and have being beaten by Honduran military forces.

While President Obama has expressed that he is "deeply concerned" and that the coup is illegal, Secretary of State Clinton has stated the the U.S. government has not formally designated the military coup as a military coup. And why? Such a move would require, according to U.S. law, that the U.S. cut off almost all U.S. aid to Honduras. In addition to aid to the Honduran government and military, aid is provided to various rightist groups and political parties from such entities as USAID, the National Endowment for Democracy, the International Republican Institute, and the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs.

While the U.S. denies any involvement in the coup, at least two of the coup leaders have received training from the Pentagon's School of the Americas, located at Fort Benning, Georgia, and known by many as the School of the Assassins. Just about every military coup in Latin America since the 1960s (and there have been quite a few) has been led by graduates of the School of the Assassins and supported by the U.S. government.

Furthermore, the U.S. maintains about 550 military and 650 civilian personnel at Soto Cano Air Base, Honduras, which is also the home of the Honduran Air Force and Naval Academy.

And let us not forget, the U.S. has dispatched military forces to Honduras on several occasions to protect the interests of the United Fruit Company (now known as Chiquita) and the Standard Fruit Company (now Dole).

The Honduran people are in the streets protesting and resisting the military. As of Monday evening, there are reports of several Honduran military battalions refusing to support the coup.

Join us Wednesday in solidarity with the people of Honduras.

Initiated by MECAWI, the Michigan Emergency Committee Against War and Injustice, and Latinos Unidos de Michigan

KUDOS

2009-06-20T18:57:00.000-07:00

The People's Summit and Tent City was a great success in terms of organizing and bringing together the people throughout the region and various states to elevate the revolutionary conscience of the masses to stand up (against the powers who have waged an economic war against the working class by their corporations, banks, and government entities that do not have the interest of the people at heart) and to fight back to demand what is rightfully theirs as citizens and workers.

Not only did it present a means of organizing and strategy but it sought to unify people from all stratas of society. It sought to educate, and open the necessary dialogue with which to engage the masses.

The camaraderie and solidarity that was felt throughout the summit was an example of what is possible and necessary to fuel the type of resistance needed to effect a much needed systemic change by planning, organizing, strategizing, unifying, televising, communicating, regulating, and escalating militant protest by key organizations and classes that have been left out of the so called economic recovery and to forge ahead with their plan and list of demands to continue this momentum that resonated during the Summit.

KUDOS to our comrades who camped out in the tents to represent the homeless and to bring to conscience the magnitude and impact of homelessness across the country and the neglect to bail out those who have been swindled out of their livelihood which is their property, their jobs, their health care, which should be a right.

All the speakers were of excellent character and their words, no doubt will resonate to keep the fire burning within to make enough inroads to organize mass participation and to continue the struggle to rectify and to eradicate this crime of globalization against humanity both at home and abroad.

KUDOS, to the Latino participation and education of their struggle with immigrants rights and deportation issues, as they made clear who the enemy and aliens truly are and to set straight the many questions surrounding their oppression. Their struggle is truly our struggle and we must remain bonded to their cause of common liberty and justice for all.

KUDOS to the Labor Unions who bravely and militantly showed that they do have some fight in them as they escalated a spirited demonstration throughout the summit that they will continue to be soldiers of solidarity for the working class people all over the world and be the example of confrontation against the capitalist bosses who exploit their labor for profit.

KUDOS to our press agents who exposed themselves to the media and the demands of the people regardless of the consequences to bring enlightenment to the masses and to send out a message that resistance is not futile and that resistance exists, right here, in Detroit to reverberate across the region and put the matter in check as to whether the people have the power to effect change.

KUDOS to our elected officials like Councilwoman Joanne Watson, Senator Hanson Clarke and Jessie Jackson, for bucking the status quo to join us on common ground to support our initiative and help drive the point that both the masses and the elected officials must do their part to save the people from those who continue to destroy their domestic tranquility and pursuit of happiness, liberty, justice and freedom.

KUDOS to the cooks and many members of various organizations who did the labor in erecting the tent city, cleanup, and logistics that was sooo necessary. Their work was a most necessary component and very much appreciated from the beginning to the end.

KUDOS to our performers of poets, hip hop artists, rock bands and folk singers who didn't think twice but showed up to exploit their talents for a worthy cause voluntarily as the people loved what they saw and heard.

And last but not at all the least, KUDOS, to the FIST Youth Organization members and our WW party members from NY and other states who always have the back of the people because their power and influence brought the energy and fuel necessary to pick up the momentum of the Summit by their intellect and support to the cause from the beginning to the end.

WE SHOULD GIVE OUR SELVES A HAND AND SALUTE OUR COLORS OF SOLIDARITY IN DARING TO CONFRONT THE POWERS THAT BE. I THINK WE TRULY PUSHED THE ENVELOPE AND THE WAY FORWARD IS NOT JUST A VISION, BUT CLEARLY DEFINED OVER THE HORIZON.

COMRADES LETS CONTINUE THE FIGHT!

Peace to You All.
Andrea Egypt,

Another Perspective: More Help for "Working People" and The Poor

2009-06-20T18:08:00.000-07:00

Week of 6.19.09
Another Perspective: More Help for "Working People" and The Poor
By Abayomi Azikiwe
Abayomi Azikiwe, spokesperson for Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures and Evictions, talks about what he feels is irresponsible action by the government and corporations in regard to American employment and the poor. Moratorium NOW! held a protest rally—called "The People's Summit"—outside The National Summit, a conference of business CEOs and leaders which took place in Detroit June 15-17.

Over four million people have lost their jobs in the United States since December 2007 and more than two million people have lost their jobs since the beginning of this year. But neither the corporate community nor the American government have been able to respond to the deepening economic crisis by creating jobs for the unemployed and underemployed.

There are numerous factors involved in this apparent inability by multi-national corporations and the government to create jobs and provide other assistance to families suffering from home foreclosures, evictions, lack of health care and the evaporation of their savings and pension funds. Current policy imperatives of the ruling elites in this country favor the profit-making capacity of the financial sector and the most wealthy business people based in America and abroad. This is to the detriment of the interests of most working people and the poor.

The assumption is that if these banks and firms prosper, the benefits will flow downward to the workers in the form of lucrative employment and social benefits. However, this theory has been totally discredited through the lowering of real wages, the rise in joblessness, underemployment and the widening income gap between working people and the rich.

Many corporations have decided to go to areas of the country and the world where they can more freely exploit workers and consequently reap higher profits. When this system faced collapse during the fall of 2008, U.S. taxpayers were forced to bailout the very same financiers, insurance providers and automotive companies who had engineered the crisis. The collapse resulted in the worst loss of financial wealth since the Great Depression.

There must be a restructuring of national priorities in the United States. The $10 trillion in public funds and Federal Reserve-induced liquidity that was utilized to ostensibly prevent a full economic meltdown in 2008 could have easily been invested in government programs to create millions of jobs in the U.S. There could have been a national moratorium on foreclosures that could have allowed people to remain in their homes pending the outcome of the current crisis.

"Those who have guided the economic policy of the country must yield to the needs of the people who are the engine of any real program of reconstruction and renewal."
At the same time, the $700 billion annual defense budget—including the continuing occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan—is draining the resources of the country in wars that have no end and that could not possibly be won by a western industrialized nation against peoples of the developing world. These Pentagon resources could be re-allocated to build mass transit systems throughout the country, reopen closed schools, and rehire laid-off educators. There could be a genuine effort to repair the national infrastructure. All of these initiatives could result in the creation of millions of jobs.

What is most important in any plans to create jobs and stimulate economic growth is the empowerment of working people and the poor. This is something that receives a hostile response from the corporate community and the federal government. Nonetheless, if people feel they have no influence in the actual operations of the state and capital, their productivity and general outlook will be severely affected.

If there is no rapid reversal of the massive job losses in the U.S., the long-term implications will be catastrophic. With the need for 25 million jobs for the unemployed and underemployed this year, consumer spending will further decline and more businesses could slide into bankruptcy, resulting in even more unemployment.

Consequently, the epidemic of job losses and home foreclosures will contribute substantially to the erosion of living standards and social stability. Those who have guided the economic policy of the country must yield to the needs of the people who are the engine of any real program of reconstruction and renewal.

People’s Summit confronts real state of economy

2009-06-19T16:04:00.000-07:00

Phalanx of police guard CEO’s meeting at the Renaissance Center DIANE BUKOWSKI PHOTO

By Diane Bukowski
The Michigan Citizen

DETROIT — “The economy is crumbling because its roots are sunk in blood and unpaid labor,” declared City Councilwoman JoAnn Watson during the June 14 opening session of the National People’s Summit and Tent City in Grand Circus Park.

“We cannot fix it with band-aids,” she said. “We are demanding an urban Marshall Plan for Detroit, $10 billion, only 10 percent of the $100 billion the government has given to Wall Street. We have a critical mass in the people here to begin that fight: march twice, to Lansing and to Washington, demand a special meeting with President Barack Obama. You cannot bail out the auto industry and not the workers and their homes.”

She added that Detroit can be re-populated by offering young people government housing for $1 with no property taxes and guaranteeing jobs through projects like using the “gold mine” of the Great Lakes to provide renewable, alternate energy sources.

The four-day Tent City, which included marches and other protests, was called in response to a national business summit taking place June 15 -18 at the Marriott Hotel in downtown Detroit’s Renaissance Center.

“It’s time to define America’s future in a global economy, and YOU are invited,” the business summit website trumpeted. However, the people who attended were nearly all white males representing corporations, banks and lenders, along with politicians whose campaign coffers are filled with corporate donations.

The companies have reaped billions in tax bailouts, while laying off millions of workers, foreclosing on homes and sending so-called “middle-class” America to live in the streets with the ranks of the long-term homeless. (See photo box.)

Laid-off autoworkers, welfare rights activists, representatives of the differently-abled and dozens of others joined forces with people like Robert Miller, a Vietnam veteran who has been homeless for 40 years, and Linda James, also homeless. James lost the toes on one foot to frostbite, but she helped pass out literature about the people’s fightback.

“The government needs to help homeless people,” said James. “They’ve got so many buildings they can open. I lost my toes because all the shelters were full and I have no insurance to get my medication. I have seizures, high blood pressure, and schizophrenia.”

A major focus of the People’s Summit was the campaign for a moratorium on all foreclosures and evictions.

“Bail out the people, not the banks,” demonstrators chanted June 15 as hundreds marched on the Renaissance Center, which was heavily guarded by police, including a mobile ministation, to protect conference goers from the people’s wrath.

Among the business summit speakers were Vikram Pandit, CEO of Citigroup, which has foreclosed on tens of thousands of families, and Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, who has refused to declare a state of emergency in Detroit to open the door for a moratorium.

Speakers and U.S. Senators Debbie Stabenow and Carl Levin voted to give billions to banks who are refusing to re-negotiate loans to distressed homeowners.

“There is no help right now,” declared attorney Vanessa Fluker, who works day and night along with the Moratorium NOW! Coalition to keep people in their homes.

“A reality check shows that the federal legislation mandating that lenders modify loans has no enforcement provisions,” Fluker said. “I’ve had clients who took out mortgages at six percent, and they’ve been modified to 12 percent, people whose monthly payments went from $400 to $2,400, and $1,200 to $4,400. Government statistics have shown that African Americans, Hispanics and senior citizens are targeted for these types of loans.”

She noted that not only do the companies evicting homeowners get reimbursed through insurance from Fannie Mae, they also take out vandalism insurance and get paid when homes are stripped after evictions take place.

State Sen. Hansen Clarke called on the gathering to support Senate Bill 29, which would establish a moratorium on foreclosures for two years, on a case by case basis. He said the 90-day moratorium signed by Granholm “will not help one person in foreclosure now or in the future.”

Plant workers from American Axle in Detroit, Toledo Jeep and Chrysler Twinsburg in Ohio, and UE workers from North Carolina marched a second time on the RenCen June 16. They demanded that their employers along with Ford, General Motors, American Axle and other companies, whose CEOs spoke at the forum, restore the workers they have laid off to jobs in re-tooled, green energy plants.

At 3 p.m., they gathered again at the Tent City site to hear from Rev. Jesse Jackson, who also spoke at the business summit, and other speakers.

Dianne Feeley, one of the American Axle workers who struck at the plant for weeks last year to stop its shutdown, noted, “American Axle’s CEO Richard Dauch bought up dozens of GM plants so he could whipsaw one against the other, reducing wages to as little as $10 an hour and sending jobs to Mexico, Singapore and other parts of the world to exploit workers there.”

Paul Wohlfarth, a Toledo Jeep retiree after 31 years with the company, said retirees’ eyeglass and dental benefits will be eliminated July 1. He and a co-worker stood next to a cardboard box with a chimney pipe which represented the future homes of many new hires. He said they are making $14 an hour, getting 40lK retirement plans dependent on stock market swings, and have been forced into an underfunded UAW-run health plan.

Marguerite Maddox, a representative of the differently abled, was greeted with cheers as she spoke at the June 14 rally accompanied by her seeing-eye dog. She later led a march on a Detroit People Mover station that is not accessible.

“I’m fed up with the health care system, they’ve eliminated our coverage for hearing aids and glasses,” she said of Medicaid. She called for jobs for anyone who lives in Detroit, including the differently abled like herself.

Activities June 16 also included a rally to close the Detroit Incinerator and promote recycling held at Spirit of Detroit statue on the corner of Woodward and Jefferson.

Other speakers at the event included Maureen Taylor of the Welfare Rights Organization, Baldemar Velasquez, head of the Ohio-based Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC), Sandra Hines of the Moratorium NOW! coalition.

The people fight back in Detroit

2009-06-19T15:47:00.000-07:00

from The Arab American News

By Nick Meyer
Friday, 06.19.2009, 06:04am

DETROIT — As voices of anger and frustration echoed through the air at Grand Circus Park in Detroit on Tuesday, many onlookers couldn't help but stop by to see what all the noise was about.

Civil rights activist Jesse Jackson, center, and Reverend Edwin Rowe, L, of Central United Methodist Church in Detroit. PHOTO: NIck Meyer/TAAN

What they found upon visiting the National People's Summit was that the event didn't discriminate in terms of the problems it tackled.

From calling for a moratorium on housing foreclosures and "bailing out the people" to freeing Palestine and ending the wars against Iraq and Afghanistan, there was no shortage of critical human rights issues to discuss.

The event ran from June 14-17 in response to the National Business Summit held at the Renaissance Center as representatives from large companies like Conoco-Phillips, Dow Chemical and General Motors met to discuss new policy ideas.

Earlier in the day, protestors rallied outside of the Renaissance Center as the leaders met before heading back to the tent city and stage set up in Grand Circus Park.

Reverend Edwin Rowe from nearby Central United Methodist Church, who hosted a large pro-Palestinian rally back in February, was among the featured speakers. He lashed out at those responsible for the financial crisis and used a familiar rallying cry from the Palestinian situation: "No justice, no peace!" he said, referring to bank bailouts.

"Why do we trust Wall Street to help when they are the same people who destroyed the workers?"

Rowe added that the 36th District Court near his church has essentially become a foreclosure court and said banks get paid for foreclosures and even for acts of vandalism against abandoned houses, which are common.

He also bemoaned the lack of support for victims of the crisis from interfaith leaders of all religions.

"Whenever the media sticks a microphone in your face, we need to tell them that our leaders are betraying their own scriptures by not standing with the laid off workers."

Famous civil rights activist Jesse Jackson stopped by later in the day and brought extra media coverage and more curious passers-by to the event. He also focused on the foreclosure problem.

"The banks have more money than they can spend, yet the people languish in poverty," he said.

Jackson pointed out that about 600,000 people in the United States lose their jobs each month and that the banks still aren't lending despite being awash in new funds.

There was also a strong pro-union contingent at the summit, including activist Bryan Pfeifer, who discussed the importance of the working class staying united in the face of corporate power instead of pointing fingers.

"Solidarity is important even with international workers; the union is the only way to go," he said, saying that an honest job on a living wage is a human right.

Pfeifer recalled stories from his grandfather about how an alliance with a Mexican union helped end an auto strike.

"When unions fight each other, the enemy loves that," he said.

After Jesse Jackson's speech, Rowe took time to clarify his words on stage and touch on other issues.

He recalled his trip to Palestine and drew a parallel between the bulldozing of houses by Israeli forces to the situation in America.

"I was there and I saw the bulldozers that said 'Made in America' on the side; what's going on now in America is just another kind of bulldozer."

He said that most of the foreclosure victims had little chance to save their homes as mortgage rates rose from 5% to around 18% in the cases Rowe was informed about.

Rowe previously discussed with Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm at an NAACP event the possibility of declaring a moratorium on foreclosures as the state did during the Great Depression in 1934 for five years as opposed to the 90-day policy they currently have.

Rowe said that lawyers sent her information proving it is legal as she requested, but Granholm hasn't addressed the issue as promised.

With word out that Michigan's unemployment rate had risen to 14.1% on Wednesday, its highest since 1983, and foreclosures piling up across the state, the odds seem stacked against the working class.

Rowe offered advice on how citizens can do their best keep their heads above water.

"We get on TV and talk about supporting small businesses but we don't do it. Supporting small businesses is very important.

"We've also got to ask our religious leaders from our churches, mosques, and synagogues to do more," he said, adding that the black civil rights struggle in America was successful because of their support.

"This is a civil rights issue and if we're ever going to stand behind our workers it has to be here and now."

Workers, youth open fightback at Tent City

2009-06-18T20:03:00.000-07:00

Facing evictions, repression, no jobs

Published Jun 17, 2009 4:34 PM

By Kris Hamel
Tent City, Detroit

June 16—Hundreds of poor and working people have gathered at the National People’s Summit and Tent City in downtown Detroit to put forward the people’s vision of a future with guaranteed jobs and income, universal health care, housing and utilities, and all rights that working class people are currently denied under the capitalist system.

More than 330 people registered for the four-day event. They have come from throughout metro Detroit and Michigan—even workers from the Upper Peninsula are at Tent City. Workers and activists from Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio and more are represented.

The People’s Summit and Tent City, based in Grand Circus Park from June 14-17, was called in response to the National Summit of big-business CEOs and executives being held at the General Motors Renaissance Center—GM’s world headquarters.

General Motors Renaissance Center—GM’s world headquarters.

“They’re going to regret the closing of 14 plants and the laying off of General Motors workers, because the workers are fighting back!” said Frank Hammer, a retired United Auto Workers International representative and leader of the Autoworker Caravan, as he opened the rally after a militant demonstration outside the big-business summit today.
American Axle workers.

More than 500 workers, including many from around Michigan and Ohio, marched in front of the GM Renaissance Center demanding jobs and human needs, not corporate greed. “The workers have spoken—keep the plants open!” was one of many chants that thundered from East Jefferson Avenue as dozens of cops and private thugs stood in formation guarding the privately owned Ren Cen.

As the workers marched and rallied for jobs, Richard Dauch, CEO of American Axle and Manufacturing, Inc., addressed the capitalists inside, along with former Michigan Gov. John Engler.

Dauch wrested tremendous concessions from striking UAW workers in 2008, cutting wages and benefits in half. Workers were promised their jobs would be saved, but now Dauch has broken that vow and the American Axle plant in Hamtramck, Mich., located within the city of Detroit, has closed.
Disabled contingent.

Engler was rewarded for his gutting of welfare and education in Michigan with his appointment as president and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers.

more with photos

National People's Summit holds demonstration at RenCen; speakers at Tent City

2009-06-18T19:11:00.000-07:00

DETROIT -- A demonstration was held Tuesday afternoon outside the GM Renaissance Center, where the National Business Summit was being held. It was picketed by the National People's Summit, whose theme that day was "Stop the war on the workers and poor - feed the people, not the Pentagon!". They were marching and chanting with "No jobs, no peace!", "No justice, no peace!".

One of the speakers at the business summit that day was Former Governor John Engler, who is named one of the enemies by the summit and Tent City stationed at Grand Circus Park on Woodward and Adams. Engler is both the president and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers. He is "hated by the workers and the poor throughout the state for his legacy of racism, welfare gutting, cutbacks and attacks on unions."

"The People's Summit was organized and initiated by the Moratorium NOW Coalition to stop foreclosures and eviction," said Jerry Goldberg, an organizer of the National People's Summit. "When we heard there was going to be a National Business Summit with the major CEOs of all the corporations convened in Detroit. We said we have to answer that. We thought they have a lot of gull these CEOs whose shutting plants, laying off people, tossing people out of their homes. What we were going to organize a people's response of the workers and the poor, those suffering from plant closures and layoffs."

To them, the National Business Summit is all about getting to the bottom line: banks, businesses, and corporations learning to satisfy their greed as well as getting the economy back on the track their way -- while getting rich off the suffering of the working class, the middle class, the needy, and the oppressed.

"I'm here to support the People's Summit, the other side of the business summit," said Bill Meyer of Hamtramck, Mich., who participated in the demonstration. "I'm not one of the organizers but I'm a strong supporter of it. Our country's in desperate shape right now. We're going down the tubes this country. We've got to do something about it. Everyone's affected by what goes on in the economy in the U.S. The whole world is feeling effects of our economic meltdown here."

The National People's Summit, which concluded on Wednesday, is based on the legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: his advocacy of civil rights, racial equality, and social justice for all. Though independent of his Poor People's Campaign, the principle and the results are the same: the focus of education, housing, health care, job loss and rise of unemployment, and having an Economic Bill of Rights. So, it is up to the people, to join the good fight of freedom, liberty, and peace against what it seems to be an corrupt system.

"I support the workers and the unions and the poor people, the homeless and the unemployed," said Michael Whitty, a University of Detroit Mercy professor who participated in the demonstration. "We're trying to change the way people are treated. We believe that people come before profits. We should give up the creed of greed. The real danger is Wall Street piracy not Somali piracy. We've been taken to the cleaners by the power elite. We want to take our power back."

Still, in the end, like Dr. King, we must all learn to overcome, break down barriers, find common ground, and work together to bring a world divided into one.

"We've been camped out in downtown Detroit since Sunday," said David Sole, an organizer of the event and UAW member. "We've had a People's Summit to oppose the rich and famous summit going on. The people who have already ruined America, the big CEOs, the bankers, plant closers. We're the victims of that. We're meeting to plan our own future. We're not going to let them plan our future. We're fighting back and organizing. We're working on a people's agenda, people's economic program that includes reopening the plants, taking billions of dollars that the government gave these crooks. We believe a job is the right of every person."

more with lots of photos

25,000 Social Activists At U.S. Social Forum in 2010

2009-06-18T18:48:00.000-07:00

Detroit - Organizers of the U.S. Social Forum (USSF), a grassroots gathering of thousands of activists, will announce plans for a five-day event in Detroit 2010 at a kickoff on Monday, June 22. The kick-off event will be held from 6pm-9pm at the Detroit USSF Office, 23 E. Adams St, 4th Floor (near Woodward Avenue, downtown Detroit), in the Central United Methodist Church building.

A "media availability" explaining the Social Forum will be held at 6:30pm. The evening will include music, art displays, cultural performances and food. A detailed presentation to event attendees will take place at about 6:45pm. Musical performances will take place at about 8pm.

The USSF will take place June 22-26, 2010 at Cobo Hall and Hart Plaza in downtown Detroit. Other workshops and community art and culture programs will take place across the city. The USSF will convene social movements from across the United States and globally. Organizers are reaching out to young people, people of color, unionists, laid-off and unorganized workers, welfare recipients, veterans, persons with disabilities, indigenous people, freedom fighters, collectives, and many others. Key aims are to create an open space and a process for creating movement convergence and coordination, raise awareness of social justice issues, provide opportunities to share experiences, and discuss strategies that create social change and solutions to the problems facing people across our many struggles, sectors, regions, and diversity.

"Detroit is ground zero for the economic crisis facing millions of people, not only here in Michigan, but across the nation," says Maureen Taylor, a USSF staff organizer and Chair of the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization (MWRO). "We are really pleased to host this historic event and we're sure that what happens in Detroit will have a huge impact not only here but elsewhere."

Next year's Social Forum in Detroit is expected to draw upwards of 25,000-30,000 activists. It will build upon the first USSF gathering in Atlanta 2007 that drew an estimated 12,000-15,000 people. Already, committees and working groups are meeting in Detroit and around the country to prepare for next year's forum.

"The USSF Detroit 2010 is going to be exciting since it's much more than just a simple conference or a big networking event," states William Copeland, a USSF staff organizer and member of the East Michigan Environmental Action Council (EMEAC). "This is a large scale and unique opportunity to learn from each other's experiences, shed light on social injustices, and build on community efforts to create real change."

USSF Detroit 2010 will also mark the 10 year anniversary of the World Social Forum process and highlight the international connections of the USSF to a broader global process.

Information about the June 22 kick-off event and Detroit Local Committee USSF activities can be obtained by calling: 877-515-USSF or emailing DetroitInfo@USSF2010.org. For more information about the US Social Forum, visit the USSF 2010 website at: www.ussf2010.org

People's Summit Demonstration against National Summit at GM HGQ on June 15

2009-06-17T18:59:00.000-07:00

People's Summit in the News - June 16

2009-06-17T17:17:00.000-07:00

To fight global capitalist crisis
People’s Summit discusses issues, action plan

People's Summit in the Motor City -- for the People only

Freep.com >> Photos main >> News photos

People's Summit Protest: Day 2

WXYZ - Jackson Leads Protests at Detroit Business Summit

Rev. Jesse Jackson rallies workers

People's Summit - Fred Goldstein author of Low Wage Capitalism

2009-06-16T19:14:00.000-07:00

YouTube link

People's Summit in the News - June 15

2009-06-16T17:23:00.000-07:00

WXYZ - Tent City Springs Up in Downtown Detroit

WDET- National People's Summit Opens at Grand Circus Park

Detroit Free Pess - Activists protest National Summit

Detroit Free Press - Business conference draws protest

WDIV - Protestors camp out in Detroit

WZZM - Economic Summit Opens in Detroit - a different summit also underway

WDIV- People's Summit Rallies, Protests Outside National Summit

WZZM 13 - Interview with People's Summit organizer (at end)

People's Summit in the News - June 14

2009-06-16T15:54:00.000-07:00

Yahoo News - National Summit arrives amid economic trouble - People's Summit offers alternative

Detroit News - Protesters set up tents in downtown Detroit in advance of economic summit

Detroit News - Business summit irks Tent City protesters

Yahoo News - "People's Summit" includes pro-labor rallies and marches

KRIS TV - Activists are gearing up to protest the summit

People's Summit - Julie Fry

2009-06-15T19:46:00.000-07:00

YouTube link

People's Summit Rally - June 15 - Larry Holmes

2009-06-15T19:07:00.000-07:00

YouTube link

People's Summit - Joann Watson

2009-06-15T19:04:00.000-07:00

Part 1

YouTube link

Part 2

YouTube link

People's Summit - Mike Martinez

2009-06-14T19:40:00.000-07:00

YouTube link

People's Summit - Baldemar Valazquez

2009-06-14T19:05:00.000-07:00

Part 1

YouTube link

Part 2

YouTube link

People's Summit - Marguerite Maddox

2009-06-14T19:01:00.000-07:00

YouTube link

National Summit invited to Corporate/Banker Devastation Tour of Detroit

2009-06-13T19:17:00.000-07:00

Subject: Detroit tour invitation
To: info@econclub.org
Date: Saturday, June 13, 2009, 3:18 PM

To Detroit Economic Club, National Summit participants, and media:

The National People’s Summit and Tent City being held in Detroit on June 14-17, 2009, hereby cordially invites you to attend the Corporate/Banker Devastation Tour of the city on Monday, June 15, 2009, departing from the Marriott Hotel at 1:30 p.m.

Participants will view closed factories, neighborhoods filled with foreclosed, abandoned and vandalized homes, decaying schools, and other signs of what Corporate America has done to Detroit .

For more information contact Kris Hamel at 313-378-2369.

Sincerely,

Kris Hamel

Program Coordinator, National People’s Summit and Tent City

Press Conference to Announce People's Summit

2009-06-11T19:12:00.000-07:00

Press Conference

Event: Press Conference to Announce People's Summit
Date: Friday, June 12, 4:00 p.m. at Grand Circus Park
Sponsor: Moratorium NOW! Coalition
Contact: 313.671.3715 or 887.4344
E-mail: ac6123@wayne.edu
URL: http://www.peoplessummit.org

Press Conference Will Announce People's Summit in Detroit

Working people (both employed and unemployed), along with youth and students from the metropolitan Detroit area and around the country, will gather at Grand Circus Park
to organize four days of active resistance to the worse economic crisis since the Great Depression.

Between June 14-17, activists will pitch tents, hold rallies, demonstrations, workshops, strategy sessions and cultural presentations in order to pose an alternative program to what the National Business Summit will be promoting at the Renaissance Center.

The National People's Summit is designed to build a movement to win a moratorium on foreclosures and evictions, full employment, universal health care, the end to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and every other progressive right advanced by people throughout the country.

Organizations and coalitions from numerous cities such as Baltimore, Atlanta, New York, Boston, Toledo, Cleveland and Durham, are in Detroit to talk about their respective struggles and to build solidarity with the people in this city.

To announce the People's Summit and its schedule, we are holding a press conference this Friday, June 12 at 4:00 p.m. at Grand Circus Park. Members of the press who need additional information on the People's Summit can contact us at the web site or by calling our office.

Speak up if you want change to happen

2009-06-10T20:26:00.000-07:00

BY DESIREE COOPER
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST
June 10, 2009

Attending high school graduation parties last weekend, I was struck by the contrast between enthusiastic young people and palpably subdued adults. While the kids chattered about their futures, the adult conversation was all about the stress of long-term unemployment, pending foreclosures, destroyed credit ratings and mounting bills.

I have a new perspective on post-9/11 New York and even New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. I'm realizing it's possible for an entire city -- even a nation -- to be clinically depressed.

This year, it seems like even summer has forsaken Detroit.

"We'll survive," people say just to avoid thinking about what happens if we don't. "What else can we do?"

Maybe we can try the one thing we haven't tried yet -- letting out a collective shout.

Something for all the people

That's just what the organizers of the National People's Summit and Tent City hope that Detroiters are finally ready to do.

"A lot of people are in a state of shock," said Abayomi Azikiwe, a spokesman for next week's event. "They never anticipated that this kind of economic decline would happen in the United States. But it has, and we have to wake up and be proactive."

For three days beginning Sunday, the People's Summit will include rallies, speeches and demonstrations on the issues of unemployment, foreclosures, national health insurance and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. All of them are directly tied to misguided economic policies of outsourcing, overproduction, predatory mortgage lending and an unsustainable military budget, said Azikiwe.

The People's Summit has been timed to coincide with the National Summit, a conference of more than 1,000 business, economic, academic and government leaders organized by the Detroit Economic Club.

The National Summit, to be held Monday through June 17 at the Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center, is billed as a "gathering to define America's future."

Let the leaders know

But Azikiwe said the National Summit will be missing the ordinary people who have been adversely affected by the decisions of those attending.

"The corporate and government leaders who created this problem haven't changed their perspectives about what's going on," he said. "We have to make our voices heard."

On Monday afternoon, there will be a march to the Renaissance Center. On Tuesday, there will be a noon rally in front of the complex while former Michigan Gov. John Engler, now president of the National Association of Manufacturers, and American Axle & Manufacturing Chief Executive Officer Richard Dauch address the convocation inside.

When I asked Azikiwe whether he thought that mere demonstrations would change our dire economic situation, he reminded me that's the only way that systemic change has happened in the past -- when the people speak up.

If the current economic conditions make you want to holler, here's your chance to be heard.

Contact DESIREE COOPER: dcooper@freepress.com

Additional Facts
National summit to start Sunday

The National People's Summit and Tent City will be held from Sunday through June 17. Most activities will take place at Grand Circus Park in Detroit. A march from the park to the Renaissance Center will begin at 4 p.m. Monday.

For the schedule of events, go to www.peoplessummit.org or call 313-887-4344 for more info.

original Detroit Free Press article

Union Auto Workers Planning Rally

2009-06-09T20:00:00.000-07:00

Frank Hammer, retired president of UAW Local 909, spoke at a press conference on June 9. (Credit: FOX 2 News)

Updated: Tuesday, 09 Jun 2009, 6:17 PM EDT
Published : Tuesday, 09 Jun 2009, 6:17 PM EDT
foxdetroit
by Simon Shaykhet

HAMTRAMCK, Mich. - In one of the most trying times in the UAW's history, auto workers are in a fight to keep their jobs. A press conference Tuesday at UAW Local 235 sent a very strong message. Auto workers in metro Detroit will be rallying soon to challenge plant closings and layoffs.

Some of the auto workers who showed up to the press conference work for American Axle, but the rally that is planned for June 16 will also include GM and Chrysler employees, as well as retired workers facing health care costs.

They are urging the state to declare an emergency in Michigan with a moratorium on foreclosures, evictions and utility shutoffs. They are also asking for enforcement of a federal Full Employment Act basically making the government responsible for using all programs and policies to put people back to work.

On June 16, the rally will be at noon outside the Renaissance Center in Detroit and coincides with American Axle's president and former Governor John Engler addressing the National Business Summit.

"The CEO of American Axle, who is taking all the work out of this plant, taking it to places where he can get cheaper labor and leaving our community devastated and leaving the workers without employment," said Frank Hammer, retired president of UAW Local 909.

Other events are also planned to give people a chance to speak out.

Final Push - People's Summit and Tent CityMobilization and Outreach

2009-06-09T19:26:00.000-07:00

People's Summit & Tent City Office Hours and Work Session Hours
Office: 5920 Second Ave, Detroit
web: peoplessummit.org

Wednesday, June 10
10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Office Hours
5 p.m. - 9 p.m. Work Session (To make banners, placards etc.)

Thursday, June 11
10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Office Hours
5 p.m. - 9 p.m. Work Session (To make banners, placards etc.)
9 p.m - silkscreening of t-shirts

Friday, June 12
10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Office Hours

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

All,

The People's Summit & Tent City will be open during the following times this coming week. During office hours a minimum of two staffers will be there. Leaflets and posters will also be available at the office during the times below. Just stop by to pick some up. The office address is: 5920 Second Avenue, Detroit.

We'll be using Saturday for any last minute details that need to be completed. If you can't volunteer during the times below but can help on Saturday, call in to the office and let us know you're available Saturday and if needed you'll be plugged in.

Of course one of the most critical tasks this week will be massive outreach. Thus virtually everyone coming in from out of town will be helping on this to get the word out about the People's Summit & Tent City. If you can help on outreach please call in to the office to let us know where you've leafletted or are leafletting so we don't duplicate work or if you want to join an outreach team call into the
office and volunteer for this.

Also, even though the work sessions are scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday evenings, if you can't make these times call in to the office and there should be work to do during the day.

Again, the office staffers will be on top of everything in real time so the best way to plug in is to call the office and see what there is to do etc.

Thanks and great work everyone. Onward to the People's Summit!

In unity and solidarity,
Bryan
313-559-7074

People's Summit & Tent City at Grand Circus Park

2009-06-06T20:46:00.000-07:00

For Immediate Release

Media Advisory

Event: People's Summit & Tent City at Grand Circus Park
Dates: June 14-17, 2009, Four Straight Days of Resistance
Sponsors: Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures & Evictions
Contact: 313.671.3715 or 887.4344
E-mail: moratorium@moratorium-mi.org
URL: http://www.peoplessummit.org

People's Summit To Present Alternative Fightback Program For Economic Recovery: Four Days of Active Resistance to Foreclosures & Evictions, Mass Layoffs, War and Repression

Organizers for the upcoming People's Summit will put forward four days of alternative ideas and strategies for working people and the poor to fightback against the deepening economic crisis engulfing the Detroit area and the United States as a whole. People from this region and throughout the country will gather in Grand Circus Park beginning at Noon on Sunday June 14 where non-stop speeches, workshops, mass demonstrations and cultural presentations will take place.

On Monday evening a mass demonstration will leave Grand Circus Park at 4:00 p.m. and march to the Renaissance Center to confront the National Summit of CEOs and bankers taking place for three days. Our objective is to point out that the corporations and banks responsible for the worst crisis since the Great Depression cannot provide a solution to the problems facing Detroit such as home foreclosures, plant closings, school closings and environmental degredation.

The following day, Tuesday June 16, unemployed autoworkers will lead a demonstration to the Renaissance Center where the CEO of American Axle Richard Dauch is scheduled to address the business summit on the future of manufacturing. Later that day at Grand Circus Park a workshop will be held where workers will discuss strategies for keeping plants open and stopping permanent lay-offs.

The People's Summit has been endorsed by over 40 organizations from Detroit and around the country. People who wish to participate are encouraged to come and pitch a tent and set up a literature table.

Representatives of the People's Summit are available to speak with members of the press. Just contact us at the numbers above and we will be glad to provide interviews and other information on the Summit.

Abayomi Azikiwe
Media Liason, People's Summit

This week, the rich and poor will rub elbows downtown

2009-06-03T19:54:00.000-07:00

Metro Times

By News Hits staff

When the Detroit Economic Club hosts a gathering of corporate executives and others in mid-June, the focus will be finding ways to improve America's ability to compete in the global economy. Those leaders will be met by a counter-gathering of people who, we think it's safe to say, won't be wearing $1,000 custom-tailored suits.

In fact, some of them will be staying in tents pitched in Grand Circus Park, from June 14 to 17, as groups whose priorities include stopping foreclosures, advocating prisoner rights and fighting racism — along with keeping good-paying jobs here at home instead of watching the CEOs export work overseas — also convene here.

The bigwigs will be sure to get most of the press, but the fire and the fun will be at Grand Circus Park. Along with a host of speakers and rallies, the campers and their brethren will have lots of entertainment, including a hip-hop concert Monday, June 15, at 7:30 p.m.

For information phone 313-887-4344 or go to peoplessummit.org. Send donations to Moratorium NOW!/People's Summit, 5920 Second Ave., Detroit, MI 48202.

News Hits is edited by Curt Guyette. Contact him at 313-202-8004 or NewsHits@metrotimes.com.

SURE YOU'RE PISSED, BUT WHAT ARE YOU PREPARED TO DO ABOUT IT?

2009-05-28T18:49:00.000-07:00

from Cleveland Scene Weekly

Are you just generally pissed off about everything and think we’ve got to get back to the way it was done in the ’60s — getting out in the streets and making fiery speeches? Then the Bail Out People Movement might be just the thing for you. Founded this spring in New York and headquartered at the Solidarity Center there, the group is sponsoring a “People’s Economic Summit” in New York May 31, prior to the UN Summit on the World Economic Crisis, and a “People’s Summit and Tent City” in Detroit’s Grand Circus Park June 14-17 to counter the National Business Summit taking place at the Detroit Economic Club. Among the things they’re aiming to address: providing jobs, health care, housing and education for all, stopping foreclosures, restoring social-services funding, demanding moratoriums on layoffs and plant closings, ending racism, sexism and attacks on LGBT people and immigrants, stopping police brutality, getting U.S. troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan, and probably a whole bunch of other stuff too (though probably not the college football's controversial bowl championship series).

The Cleveland chapter of Bail Out People Movement is holding a community speak-out at noon this Saturday at Market Square Park across from the West Side Market. On the agenda: to assemble a Cleveland delegation to the Detroit event and to spotlight its main theme, “bail out the people not the banks.” The press release adds, “The speak out will also raise demands against racism; sexism, gay, bisexual and transgender community; raids on immigrants; police brutality; time limits on public assistance; cutbacks, plant closings and layoffs.”

Among the sponsors listed are the Peoples Fightback Center, Cleveland Jobs With Justice, the Baldwin Wallace Food Justice Council, Fight Imperialism — Stand Together and Abdul Qahhar of the Cleveland Chapter of the New Black Panther Party. Power to the people, right on! Call the Cleveland BOPM at 216.531.4004 for more information. — Anastasia Pantsios

Conference for Comprehensive Migratory Reform

2009-05-26T18:48:00.001-07:00

Detroit, Michigan - Saturday, June 13 to Sunday, June 14
Organizers of May 1st from the cities of Los Angeles, San Antonio, New York, Chicago, Detroit, etc.

Dear Activists:

After the great success of the May 1st marches which were held in over 100 cities, Latinos United in Michigan invites all activists of the migratory movement to participate in the Conference for Comprehensive Migratory Reform, which will be in Detroit, Michigan on Saturday, June 13 and Sunday, June 14. The purpose of the conference is to democratically discuss the steps to be followed in order to accomplish objectives for comprehensive migratory reform and which are suitable to the needs of immigrants. Taking into account the expectations created by President Barack Obama in his declarations about comprehensive migratory reform and the actual political-social-economic conditions, we need to know of the necessity of continuing to democratically pursue the fulfillment of our objectives.

For those activists who wish to attend the "People's Summmit" (national event), on Sunday June 14 we will have a tour of the city of Detroit. Detroit has been devastated by the financial, energy, environmental, economic, crisis. ( Ironically, this crisis was caused by the same forces that oppose the comprehensive migratory reform.) At the end of the tour, we will join the "People's Summit". In this event we will state our position with respect to the comprehensive migratory reform before other groups of activists who will meet here in Detroit to participate in this event.

For more information call or write to Latinos United of Michigan: Ignacio 313 575 4933 laborexchange@aol.com, Rosendo 313 580 5474 rosendo@luum.org

Attentively,

Rosendo Delgado (313) 580 ? 5474
Ignacio Meneses (313) 575 ? 4933
Latinos United of Michigan

“Conferencia por una Reforma Migratoria Amplia”
Detroit, Michigan Sabado 13 y Domingo 14 de Junio, 2009.

Organizadores del Primero de Mayo de las ciudades de Los Angeles, New york, chicago Detroit, San Antonio,etc.

Estimado@s Activistas:

De spues del gran exito de las Marchas “Primero de Mayo” que se celebraron en mas de 100 ciudades en los EEUU.
Latinos Unidos de Michigan extiende una invitacion a todos los activistas del movimiento migratorio a participar en La
“Conferencia por una Reforma Migratoria Amplia” Esta se efectuara en Detroit, Michigan Sabado13 y Domingo

El Sabado 13 de Junio, 2009. La conferencia es con la finalidad de discutir democraticamente los pasos a seguir para lograr nuestros objetivos que comprenden una Reforma Migratoria Amplia y adecuada a las necesidades de los inmigrantes.
Tomando en cuenta las expectativas que ha creado el Presidente Barac Obama en sus declaraciones sobre una Reforma
Migratoria Amplia y las condiciones social-economicas-politicas actuales; debemos reconocer la necesidad de seguir
presionando democraticamente para conseguir nuestros objetivos.

Para aquell@s activistas que deseen asistir al “People's Summit” (evento nacional), el domingo 14 de Junio tendremos
una gira(tour) de la ciudad de Detroit que ha sido devastada por la crisis economica, social, energetica, ambiental, etc.
(Ironicamente, esta crisis fue causada por las mismas fuerzas que se oponen a la Reforma Migratoria Amplia) Al terminar
la gira, nos incorporaremos al “People's Summit” En este evento expondremos nuestra postura en lo que respecta a la
“Reforma Migratoria Amplia” ante otros grupos de activistas que se reuniran aqui en Detroit para participar en dicho evento.

Para mas informacion llame o escriba a Latinos Unidos de Michigan:
Ignacio 313 575 4933 laborexchange@aol.com, Rosendo 313 58 0 5474 rosendo@luum.org

Atentamente,

Rosendo Delgado (313) 580 – 5474
Ignacio Meneses (313) 5 75 – 4933
Latinos Unidos/United de Michigan

Continue the Legacy of Fred Hampton

2009-05-26T18:35:00.000-07:00

Build the People's Summit: Continue the Legacy of Fred Hampton

Event: People's Summit Fundraiser/Discussion
Film: "The Murder of Fred Hampton", 1971 (88 mins.) Recently re-released on DVD
Date: Friday May 29, 7:00-9:00 p.m.
Location: 5920 Second Avenue at Antoinette, Near WSU in Detroit
Suggested Donation: $5

Hampton Photo:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/53911892@N00/3549015374/

Fred Hampton, a young leader of the Illinois Chapter of the Black Panther Party, electrified the African American and progressive movement in Chicago during 1968-69. He formed an alliance of street gangs along with organizations from the Puerto Rican, Chicano, student and working class white communities in the Chicago area in order to fight against repression and for food, free health care, quality education, housing and fundamental social change. His efforts prefigured the Rainbow Coalition of Jesse Jackson during the 1980s. Hampton's legacy as a young revolutionary organizer portends much for the challenges facing the people of the United States today amid the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Brief background on film:

In The Murder Of Fred Hampton, currently in re-release on DVD, director Mike Gray and the Chicago Film Group Collective chronicle the brief but extraordinary life of 21 year old Hampton, executed as he slept on December 4th, 1969, along with other Panthers during a brutal home invasion by a special unit of Chicago police tied to the State Attorney's office. Despite an elaborate cover-up by police insisting that that they fired 99 bullets and left Hampton's brains splattered across his mattress in 'self-defense,' movement lawyers, as documented in this devastating film, proved otherwise. This people's investigation challenging at the same time Nixon Administration repression and Cointelpro, resulted in the indictment of several Chicago police, the State Attorney for Northern Illinois, and his assistants.

The Murder Of Fred Hampton illuminates the magnetic fervor, militant eloquence, and sheer infectious ideological energy of 'living high on the people,' that Chairman Fred embodied, much like Malcolm. And it was that threat to the state and the status quo, a combination of political rage transcending fear and the passionate pursuit of broad popular unity against social and economic injustice, that invoked Hampton's valiant iconic immortality and also abrupt victimhood. Rendering The Murder Of Fred Hampton a visual and oral blueprint of cautionary wisdom and mass inspiration.

People’s Summit vs. National Business Summit

2009-05-19T21:13:00.000-07:00

Detroit June 14-17

By Kris Hamel
Detroit

Published May 17, 2009 9:41 PM

Organizers of the People’s Summit, including a tent city, in downtown Detroit June 14-17 report momentum is building for the event. It’s billed as “four days of active resistance” to counter the National Business Summit held June 15-17 at the GM Renaissance Center.

On May 5 the Detroit City Council approved the People’s Summit application for a permit allowing the four-day demonstration based in Grand Circus Park on Woodward Ave. Organizers spoke at several meetings urging council members to override the police and other city departments that had recommended denying the permit. Councilwoman JoAnn Watson was instrumental in obtaining a unanimous vote granting a permit for the tent city.

‘Big business doesn’t speak for us!’

The National Business Summit Web site shows an array of 99 percent white and mostly male speakers at their event, which will be co-chaired by Ford Motor Company executive head Bill Ford and Dow Chemical chief executive Andrew Liveris. They call it a national gathering “to define America’s future” and exhort other corporate giants to “Make your voice heard–stand up for your country, your company, and your future!” (nationalsummit.org)

Former Michigan Governor John Engler, who is hated by workers and the poor throughout the state for his legacy of racism, welfare gutting, cutbacks and attacks on unions, will be among over 40 speakers at the big-business event. Engler is now the president and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers.

Richard Dauch, the chairman and CEO of American Axle & Manufacturing, Inc., is also a slated speaker. Dauch recently announced that the AAM plant in Hamtramck, Mich., the site of a bitter strike by union workers in 2008, will be closed and operations moved to Mexico. About 3,000 AAM workers already had their jobs eliminated last year.

Because of lower-than-expected registrations—at $1,495 a pop!—the business summit was moved from Ford Field and the registration fee slashed to “only” $695. It seems the conveners of the event, sponsored by the Detroit Economic Club, realized late in the game that the capitalist economic crisis was even affecting some rich folks. The reduced registration fee, however, is still too exorbitant for poor people and workers, including laid-off and unemployed workers, to have a “voice.”

‘Bail out the people!’

Literature for the People’s Summit declares: “How dare these big-business honchos come to Detroit to plot how to enrich themselves further while we struggle against home foreclosures and evictions, homelessness, mass layoffs and plant closings, utility cutoffs, school shutdowns, budget cuts, record-high unemployment, racism and every other kind of outrage!” Organizers say their event will allow the true voice of the people to be heard.

The People’s Summit will include a tent city, marches, demonstrations, rallies, cultural programs, meals and town hall meetings to discuss a “People’s Stimulus Plan and Economic Bill of Rights” so that poor and working people can define their own vision of a future free of social and economic injustice and inequality.

“Bail out the people!” has become a rallying cry for the People’s Summit, which will protest the multi-trillion-dollar give-away to the big banks and corporations that have caused the very economic crisis facing working-class people today.

Many issues will be taken up during the four-day event, which is seen as an all-inclusive demonstration linking the many struggles challenging the war on poor and working people. The People’s Summit will put forward a program for jobs, universal health care, a moratorium on foreclosures and evictions, and full rights for oppressed nationalities, immigrants, people with disabilities, women and the lesbian/gay/bi and trans communities, along with other demands.

Endorsers of the People’s Summit include the national anti-war group Code Pink, U.S. Rep. John Conyers Jr., the Toledo Foreclosure Defense League, the national Bail Out the People Movement, Latinos Unidos de Michigan, Michigan Welfare Rights Organization, Auto Worker Caravan, United Auto Workers Local 909 Executive Board, the Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures and Evictions, and many other groups and individuals.

People’s Summit organizers are doing intensive outreach and leafleting. Already the event has received media attention from the Detroit News, Crain’s Detroit Business, Michigan Citizen, Detroiter, Metro Times and other outlets. Activists from Cleveland and Toledo, Ohio, Chicago, Atlanta, New York City and Raleigh-Durham, N.C., are planning to attend.

Donations of food, supplies and funds for the People’s Summit are being solicited. Checks or money orders payable to the Moratorium NOW! Coalition/People’s Summit can be sent to 5920 Second Ave., Detroit, MI 48202. Call 313-887-4344 or visit www.peoplessummit.org for more information or to endorse, get leaflets and volunteer.

http://www.workers.org/2009/us/peoples_summit_0521/

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2009-05-19T20:17:00.000-07:00

Protest the G20 Summit
in New York City!
Sept. 19 & 20

Another world is urgently necessary –
BUT WE MUST FIGHT FOR IT!

Bail Out People–Not Banks
Money for Social Needs–Not War & Greed
Jobs, Housing, Healthcare & Education are a Right
Organize-Mobilize-Resist-Unite-Fight Back!

The third G20 summit is going to be in NYC on or around September 20, 2009. The G20 summits are held in response to the greatest worldwide economic crisis since the 1930s. But these high-level meetings of governments and bankers are not held to rescue the people of the world from depression level unemployment, evictions, homelessness, poverty, social and economic inequality and war.

These summits are about fixing the economic and financial order that puts profits before people – and fixing that system by creating more poverty, misery and suffering.

The last G20 Summit held in London in early April was met with massive protests both in London and throughout Europe.
Now that the G20 is coming to the U.S., it is up to activists and organizations here to take up the challenge of uniting and working together to organize the biggest protests possible. BOPM urges activists and organizations to endorse the call for protest at the G20 Summit in the fall, and to begin organizing for it.

The potential for mass mobilization in September is truly infinite. So let’s begin the work required to realize that powerful potential.

www.BailoutPeople.org
Email: BailoutPeople@safewebmail.com
55 W. 17th St, #5C, NY, NY 10011 212-633-6646
NYC meetings every Wed at 6:30 Call or email for information, table reservations or to volunteer.

People's Economic Summit, New York City, Sunday, May 31

2009-05-19T20:14:00.000-07:00

The Bail Out the People Movementinvites you to a

People's Economic Summit

New York City
Sunday, May 31

In conjunction with the June 1 -3
UN Summit on the World Economic Crisis
And organizing for protests at the G20

Starting Time 11 a.m.
Main Session 1 p.m. – 4 p.m.
Dag Hammerskjold Plaza,
47th & 1st Avenue

Join us Wednesday, May 20, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., at the Solidarity Center (55 W. 17th St. 5th Floor in Manhattan between 5th & 6th Avenues) for a Bail Out the People Movement Organizers' Meeting to help prepare for the People's Economic Summit
Join us Tuesday and Wednesday, from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. to help finish a large mailing to help spread the word about the People's Economic Summit. Even if you only have an hour or two to spare, drop by at 55 W. 17th St. 5th Floor.

Proposed Agenda
11 a.m. – 1 p.m. 47th St. & 1st Ave.
Special focus panels & breakouts, including:

Defending Immigrant/Worker Rights
Why do migrants leave their homelands? What is behind the anit-immigrant climate? How can we build a workers’ rights movement that includes legalization, EFCA, etc?

This and more will be discussed in a panel by members of May 1st Coalition, Bayan-USA, La Pena del Bronx, Pakistan-USA Freedom Forum, Million Worker March and others.

Building a Struggle of Youth & Students
Hear youth from member organizations – Anakbayan, FiRE, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, and FIST, along with students from Hunter College, BMCC, and others – join forces to deliver a perspective on combating not only the crisis of the capitalist system, but also the struggles against national, women and LGBT oppression, imperialism, etc.

Communities of Faith for Peace with Justice
As people of faith and conscience, we will discuss the failed economic system and its impact on our poor and oppressed communities, and how we can change it by denouncing the social sins of male supremacy, hetero-sexism/homophobia, classism, racism, ethnocentrism and xenophobia (to just mention a few). Participation of San Romero Church and others.

Capitalist Crisis, Racism, Political Repression & the Prisons
The lack of jobs or a future has resulted in the U.S. having the largest prison population in the world with majority Black, Latino/a and Native prisoners, and growing repression against youth, immigrant workers, and Arab and Muslim peoples. With participation of: NY Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition, Millions for Mumia, Lynne Stewart, N.Y. Committee to Free the Cuba Five, N.Y. Friends of MOVE (9).

People’s Speakout in Two Parts:

A discussion of strategy and tactics from those who have lost jobs, homes, healthcare, and their future.

Workers’ Struggles in the U.S. – The fight for jobs; the EFCA and against layoffs; growing unemployment; foreclosures; evictions – with Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, Million Worker March Movement, NYC Labor Against the War, Picture the Homeless, Take Back Our Union.

Struggles Against U.S. Corporate Power Around the World – The impact of the capitalist crisis, militarism, environmental destruction and imperialist policies in Africa, Asia, Middle East, Caribbean and Latin America.

Full Plenary Sessions

Starts at 1 p.m.
Invited Speakers to Include: UN Delegates, Cynthia McKinney, Ramsey Clark, Howard Zinn, Nawa El Saadawi, Medea Benjamin, Ajamu Sankofa, Vinie Burrows, Nellie Bailey, City Councilperson Charles Barron, Chris Silvera, Brenda Stokely, Larry Hamm, Lynne Stewart, Rev. Lucius Walker, Sonny Africa, Paul Quintos, Dulphing Ogan, Curtis Doebbler

First Plenary – 1 to 2:30 p.m.

A NEW WORLD IS URGENTLY NEEDED…

Panelists examine the roots of the economic meltdown and present the case for alternatives to capitalism and imperialism.

Second Plenary – 2:30 to 4 p.m.

But We Must Fight for it!

Panelists discuss building the mass movement; formulating programs and strategies to force a struggle for jobs, an end to foreclosures and evictions, and new rights and powers for working and poor people.

Third Plenary – 4 to 6 p.m.

RESISTANCE!

Special session on preparing for the G20 Summit in September in NYC and plans for the Detroit People’s Summit and Tent City..

ENDORSING ORGANIZATIONS
for MAY 31 Peoples Summit

(partial listing)
Action Center for Justice, NC
Al Awda, NY Palestine
Right to Return Coalition, NYC
Anakbayan
Arab Muslim American Federation
Arab Women’s Solidarity Assoc.
Artists & Activists United for Peace;
Asia Pacific Alliance
Bayan USA– National Alliance
for Filipino Concerns
Code Pink
FiRE– Filipinas for Rights
& Empowerment
FIST– Fight Imperialism
Stand Together
Guyanese American Workers United
Haiti-Liberté
Harlem Tenants Council
Int’l Action Center
Int’l League of Peoples Struggle
Int’l Migrants Alliance
Jersey City Peace Movement
Katrina-Rita Diaspora Solidarity, NYC
La Peña del Bronx
League of Filipino Students–SFSU
Malcolm X Grassroots Movement
May 1st Coalition for Worker
& Immigrant Rights
Michigan Emergency Committee Against War & Injustice-MECAWI
Million Worker March
Millions for Mumia
Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures & Evictions
Movement in Motion, Bronx NY
Network to Stop Foreclosures
& Evictions
New Abolitionist Movement, NYC
NYC Labor Against the War
Nodutdol for Korean Community Development
Nord Sud XXI
Pakistan USA Freedom Forum
Peoples Organization for Progress
Phil Berrigan Inst. for Non-Violence
Picture the Homeless
Resist!
San Romero de Las Américas Church
Take Back Our Union Movement
U.S./Cuba Labor Exchange
Womens Fightback Network

To Autoworker Caravan and Autoworker Supporters:

2009-05-19T19:44:00.000-07:00

The People's Summit and Tent City,
June 14-17 in Detroit to Counter the National Economic (Corporate CEO)
Summit taking place at the Ren Center in Detroit

Dear Autoworker Caravan and Autoworker Supporters,

On behalf of the Autoworker Caravan I attended an organizing meeting April 12 for a "People's Summit" scheduled for mid-June in Detroit to coincide with a major corporate confab taking place at Ford field.

The next meeting is this Friday, May 22 at 6 p.m. - Michigan Center for High Technology (aka MCHT) near Masonic Temple, 2727 Second Ave. (on TEMPLE between 2nd and 3rd) Detroit , MI (Wheelchair entrance is on Second south of Temple. Call 961-3390 from the ramp just south of stairs. For people who can negotiate stairs, enter through the door off the parking lot on the SE corner of Temple and 3rd. - one block west of Masonic Temple.)

The corporate event describes itself as a gathering to "define America's future in a global economy." The likes of John Engler, head of the National Association of Manufacturers, American Axle's CEO Dick Dauch, Nardelli and Mulally of Chrysler and Ford, etc. will pontificate about the future that the global capitalists have in store for us. If you are able and willing to pay the registration fee of $1,495 you too can have a voice. The International Union UAW is one of
the "Change Agent" sponsors, although no union representatives appear on the speakers' list. More information can be found here: www.nationalsummit.org/

The coalition for a "People's Summit" is organizing a counter event to give organized expression for the people who have been at the receiving end and left out of the corporate vision of America's future - the thousands of neighbors who've lost their homes through foreclosures, workers who have lost their jobs, families which have no access to adequate health care, families and communities which stand to lose everything in the face of bankruptcies of corporations which apparently are not too big to fail, the victims of deportations and wanton police brutality, the young people who face prison-like conditions in the schools, the people who are tired of war after war,
etc., etc..

The focus of this organizing effort will be a tent city erected for the occasion at Grand Circus Park in downtown Detroit. Many activities and events are planned to enable the people to articulate a different future and to have their voices heard. More can be found here: peoplessummit.org

The organizers are seeking to expand the coalition, broaden the agenda, bring in new activists, and add to their organizational co-sponsors. The Autoworker Caravan should participate on all fronts.

One idea that we may want to consider is to organize a tour of all the shuttered workplaces dotting our metro region to bring to light the waste laid to our communities by the profiteers gathering at the Ren Center.

Feedback is welcomed, and participation invited. The next planning meeting is Friday, May 22 from 6-8 p.m. at the Michigan Center for High Technology, 2727 Second Avenue, Detroit.

In solidarity,

Frank Hammer

www.autoworkercaravan.org

more: What we are fighting for

"Shuttin Detroit Down"

2009-05-17T17:38:00.000-07:00

Written by John Rich and John D. Anderson
"Big John" played by Kris Kristofferson

Video Source: John Rich

My daddy taught me in this country everyones the same.
You work hard for your dollar and you never pass the blame,
When it dont go your way.
Now I see all these big shots whining on my evening news,
About how their losing billions and its up to me and you
To come running to the rescue.

Well pardon me if I dont shed a tear.
There selling make believe and we dont buy that here.

Because in the real world their shuttin Detroit down,
While the boss man takes his bonus paid jets on out of town.
DCs bailing out them bankers as the farmers auction ground.
Yeah while there living up on Wall Street in that New York City town,
Here in the real world their shuttin Detroit down.
Here in the real world their shuttin Detroit down.

Well that old mans been working in that plant most all his life,
Now his pension plans been cut in half and he cant afford to die
And its a crying shame, cus he aint the one to Blame.
When I looked down to see his calloused hands,
Well let me tell you friend it gets me fightin mad.

Cause in the real world their shuttin Detroit down,
While the boss man takes his bonus paid jets on out of town.
DCs bailing out them bankers as the farmers auction ground.
Yeah while there living up on Wall Street in that New York City town,
Here in the real world their shuttin Detroit down.

Yeah while there living up on Wall Street in that New York City town,
Here in the real world their shuttin Detroit down.
Here in the real world their shuttin Detroit down,
In the real world their shuttin Detroit down.

READ HIS BIO AND MORE ARTICLES BY AXIS OF LOGIC COLUMNIST, RAMÓN SANTIAGO

© Copyright 2009 by AxisofLogic.com

This material is available for republication as long as reprints include verbatim copy of the article in its entirety, respecting its integrity. Reprints must cite the author and Axis of Logic as the original source including a "live link" to the article. Thank you!

We can do better! Begin to fightback. Join us at the People's Summit and Tent City, June 14-17.

Comment from Greg Shotwell, Soldiers of Solidarity:

No revolt, just pity the victims.
I was really appalled when the fired worker put his
aw shucks hand on the boss's shoulder in
comradely understanding, "It's just policy"
no hard feelings, boss man.
And when a fellow worker protests, the boss
gives us the moral of the story,
"There's nothing I can do about it."
There's something really subversive about a video
that emphasizes powerlessness, pity, and
there's nothing you can do about it
while trying to convince us that the producers
of the video are on our side.
I suppose it was followed up with some
buy American schmaltz and write a letter to Obama
but don't do anything real
like shut down the docks
and surround the banks with rank & file autoworkers,
steelworkers, ironworkers, and retirees.

sos shot

What We are Fighting For

2009-05-10T19:45:00.000-07:00

by the autoworkercaravan

No further loans to GM and Chrysler without stopping the flow of jobs performed by U.S. autoworkers to countries overseas - whether they’re employed by the OEMs or their suppliers. Why should U.S. taxpayers be made to subsidize the industry while the CEOs are eliminating jobs and hurting the U.S. tax base? Restructuring must be aimed at saving jobs, not just corporate profits.

Expedite the production and marketing of the electric car for mass consumption – The Federal Government must subsidize the introduction of the electric car so that it is widely affordable at $10,000-$15,000/vehicle and give consumers tax credits for converting to electric or hybrid automobiles. This will put workers back to work, and help reduce the carbon footprint escalating global warming.

We must convert our industrial capacity, and the auto plants specifically, for green products of the future, be they energy components like wind turbines or solar panels, components for mass transit, etc. The emergency represented by (a) global warming, (b) massive autoworker unemployment, and (c) “peak oil” requires that this conversion be initiated with the same approach as was used at the beginning of World War 2 when the auto plants were converted overnight to war production.

Single payer universal healthcare: US industry, and especially the “Big 3,” has been crippled by their own blindness when they insisted 60 years ago that the unions negotiate company by company to win health care benefits for union members. They got their way in the 1950s but we now live in a globalized economy where many other nations support their industries by providing nationalized health care. The logical solution for the auto industry, autoworkers and retirees – and the rest of the nation – is single payer, “everyone in,” national health care per Congressman John Conyers bill, HR 676. Today mounting health care costs are the #1 reason for personal bankruptcy. By extending Medicare to all, administrative costs and high CEO salaries will be curtailed. We will have better health care that will not be dependent on where we work.
Employee Free Choice Act: It is no coincidence that, as unions declined from 35% of the workforce in the 1950s to less than 8% in the private sector today, so has the “middle class” vanished. The attack on unions has been the tool used by the corporate elite as part of a massive “redistribution of wealth” upwards, distorting the US into a country of a tiny handful of mega billionaires and millions of the working poor. The financial crisis we face today is, in part, a direct result of the rich starving the rest of us. Passage of the Employee Free Choice Act needs to be enacted immediately as another part of the stimulus to get the economy going – so that union organizing and union bargaining can begin to put money in people’s pockets.

Explore other options to bankruptcy: There is an alternative to companies seeking reorganization through bankruptcy court – a tactic aimed at breaking up union contracts and taking back what workers have earned. There is a powerful argument for creating a public trust to take ownership of the companies that have so badly mismanaged the industry. Why shouldn't all those directly affected be able to participate in setting the priorities? .

Strengthen the “safety net:” This crisis is not going to be undone overnight. Workers in high unemployment areas must have guaranteed extensions of their government-provided unemployment insurance as they – and the country as a whole - struggles to readapt to the changing industrial landscape. This especially applies to autoworkers who are losing negotiated unemployment protections (including the JOBS bank and Supplemental Unemployment Benefits-SUB) at a time of accelerated layoffs. And while we are at it, why – during massive layoffs and rapidly rising home foreclosures - shouldn't there be a cap on credit card and mortgage interest rates?

See http://autoworkercaravan.org/ for response to Obama’s viability plan:

Obama’s Plan for Auto a Bitter Pill for Auto Workers

"Made in L.A". Documentary Film Showing

2009-05-09T20:47:00.000-07:00

People's Summit Fundraiser and Get-Together
Friday, May 15, 2009
7:00 PM
5920 Second Ave., Detroit
suggested donation: $5

Made in L.A. follows the remarkable story of three Latina immigrants working in Los Angeles garment sweatshops as they embark on a three-year odyssey to win basic labor protections from a trendy clothing retailer. In intimate observational style, Made in L.A. reveals the
impact of the struggle on each woman’s life as they are gradually transformed by the experience.

Film showing of "Made in L.A." is the award-winning documentary about immigrant women workers fighting back!

Grand Circus Park Aerial View

2009-05-08T21:41:00.000-07:00

Detroit City Council Grants Permit for the People's Summit and Tent City in Grand Circus Park, June 14-17, 2009

2009-05-05T19:57:00.000-07:00

The People's Summit applauds the decision of the Detroit City Council in unanimously passing a resolution granting a permit for a People's Summit and Tent City to be convened at Grand Circus Park in downtown Detroit from June 14-17, 2009.

The Moratorium Now! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures and Evictions petitioned the City Council in February to establish a Tent City during the People's Summit at Grand Circus Park. Despite opposition from the Detroit Police and the Parks and Recreation Department and other city departments, the Honorable Councilwoman JoAnn Watson prevailed upon her colleagues to grant the permit.

The People's Summit is being organized to give a voice to poor and working and to counter the National Big Business Summit being held on June15-17 in the Renaissance Center. Sponsored by the Detroit Economic Club, the Business Summit will bring together some of the nation's largest corporations who are responsible for the massive layoffs and cutbacks, to plot the next round of attacks on our living standards, under the guise of discussing “innovation and policy ideas in technology, energy, environment and manufacturing.”

The National Big Business Summit will be held in a city with record-high unemployment and poverty rates, lay-offs, budget cuts, school closings, utility cost hikes and shut-offs and massive home foreclosures. With a registration fee of $695, it is unlikely that any victims of foreclosures and evictions, let alone laid-off workers, will be able to attend the National Big Business Summit. Certainly, no one at this event will be speaking in the interests of those most affected by the economic collapse.

The People’s Summit will be a dynamic event. During the People’s Summit, organizers will implement a moratorium on foreclosure evictions by going into the neighborhoods and supporting homeowners who are willing to confront the bailiffs. If there is a strike, demonstration or sit in, the People’s Summit will join it. The People’s Summit will confront the big-business CEOs and politicians gathering next door. Join us!

Detroit City Council Grants Permit for the People's Summit in Grand Circus Park, June 14-17, 2009

2009-05-05T18:12:00.000-07:00

For Immediate Release

Media Advisory

Contact: Moratorium Now! Coalition/People's Summit
5920 Second Avenue, Detroit, MI 48202
Phone: 313.887.4344, 680.5508, 671.3715
E-mail: moratorium@moratorium-mi.org
URL: peoplesummit.org
Video: People's Summit Introduction

Event:
People's Summit & Tent City
June 14-17, 2009
Grand Circus Park, Detroit, Michigan

Detroit City Council Grants Permit for the People's Summit in Grand Circus Park, June 14-17, 2009

The Moratorium Now! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures and Evictions--along with the People's Summit--enthusiastically welcomes the passage of a resolution by the Detroit City Council on May 5 granting a permit for holding the planned gathering in Grand Circus Park next month.

Moratorium Now! petitioned the City Council in February to establish a tent city in downtown at Grand Circus Park. We are calling upon labor, community, youth, cultural, human rights, immigrant rights, women's rights, environmental and all other people's organizations and movements to join us in this endeavor that will strengthen the struggle to win against the corporations, banks and the war machine.

On June 15-17, 2009, the National Business Summit, sponsored by the Detroit Economic Club, will take place at the Renaissance Center, General Motors Corporate Headquarters. Millionaire capitalists like the heads of Conoco-Phillips, Dow Chemical, General Motors, Chrysler, Humana Inc., Ascension Health, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, BNSF Railway Co., and PVS Chemicals, and well as the presidents of the National Council on Competitiveness and U.S. Chamber of Commerce, will gather at this summit. President Barack Obama and cabinet members have been invited.

These wealthy businesspeople will put their greedy heads together to discuss “innovation and policy ideas in technology, energy, environment and manufacturing.” In other words, they will be strategizing on how to further increase their profits at the expense of the ever-shrinking middle class, the vast working class and the growing millions living in utter poverty.

The National Business Summit will be held in a city with record-high unemployment and poverty rates, lay-offs, budget cuts, school closings, utility cost hikes and shut-offs and massive home foreclosures. With a registration fee of $1,495, it is unlikely that any victims of foreclosures and evictions, let alone laid-off workers, will be able to attend the National Business Summit. No one at this event will be speaking in the interests of those most affected by the economic collapse.

The People’s Summit will be a dynamic event. During the People’s Summit, organizers will implement a moratorium on foreclosure evictions by going into the neighborhoods and supporting homeowners who are willing to confront the bailiffs. If there is a strike, demonstration or sit in, the People’s Summit will join it. The People’s Summit will confront the big-business CEOs and politicians gathering next door. Join us!

RAISE YOUR VOICES TO DEMAND:

Bailout the people!
Jobs, healthcare, housing and education for all
Moratorium on foreclosures, evictions and utility shutoffs – housing is a right
Stop budget cuts and restore social services funding
Stop tuition hikes and school closings
Moratorium on layoffs, plant closings, pension thefts and union busting – A job at a living wage is a right
End racism, sexism and anti-LGBT attacks
Stop attacks on immigrants
Full rights for disabled people
Bailout youth and students
No more police brutality
Jobs not Jails - For prisoners and ex-prisoners' rights
Save the natural environment and stop global warming
U.S. troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan
Money for jobs and human needs, not war
------------------------------------------------------------
Initiated by the Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures and Evictions
www.moratorium-mi.org
Email: moratorium@moratorium-mi.org
5920 Second Avenue, Detroit, MI 48202
Phone 313-680-5508
Call today to endorse, volunteer, reserve your tent space and/or make a donation.
------------------------------------------------------------
Distributed By: THE PAN-AFRICAN RESEARCH AND DOCUMENTATION CENTER--
E MAIL: ac6123@wayne.edu

May 1 March and Rally - Detroit

2009-05-02T23:07:00.000-07:00

WWJ News: May Day March in Detroit drew 15,000 people this year!

Pictures by Alan

5,000 rally in Detroit for immigrant rights

2009-05-01T11:49:00.000-07:00

Photo-BRIAN WIDDIS/Special to the Free Press
A rally for immigration rights flows down Vernor Friday morning, May 1, 2009. The march started at Patton Park and followed Vernor to Clark Park through Detroit's Mexicantown neighborhood.

By Niraj Warikoo
Free Press Staff Writer
from Detroit Free Press, May 1, 2009

Waving Mexican and U.S. flags, thousands of immigrants and their supporters rallied in southwest Detroit today for immigrant rights.

Rally organizers called for comprehensive immigration reform that would offer a path to citizenship for legal and illegal immigrants, and for an end to deportations that they say separate families.

Over the past four years, the number of deportations in Michigan and across the U.S. has sharply increased.

For fiscal year 2008, 7,514 illegal immigrants in Michigan and Ohio were deported, compared to 4,144 in fiscal year 2007, an 81 percent increase. Compared to 2005, when 2,243 illegal immigrants were deported, that’s a 235 percent increase.

The rally started at Patton Park and ended at Clark Park in the heart of the Mexican-American community. Ralliers held up placards that read “Stop the Raids,” “Legalize Hard Work,” and “No Human is Illegal.”

“We need a more humane approach to immigration reform,” said Rosendo Delgado, a co-organizer with Latinos Unidos. This is the fourth annual immigration rally in Detroit. It was smaller compared to previous years when Congress was considering bills that would crack down on illegal immigration.

Detroit police estimated today’s crowd at 5,000 to 7,000.

Jhonatan Ferrer, 19, of Dearborn Heights said many illegal immigrants “live in the shadows of society” and need a path to citizenship so that employers and others can’t take advantage of them. Right now, Ferrer said, “they have no rights.”

Others expressed concerns about deportations and its affect on immigrant communities.

Khaalid Walls, a spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the government agency that oversees deportations, said the government has “increased strategic enforcement efforts to identity and remove criminal and fugitive aliens.”

Contact NIRAJ WARIKOO: nwarikoo@freepress.com

The Bail Out the People Movement is announcing three important projects

2009-04-28T22:35:00.000-07:00

Endorse the Call | Volunteer | Donate | Sign up for updates

ATTENTION ACTIVISTS AND ORGANIZERS!
The Bail Out the People Movement is announcing three important projects:

FIRST:

PROTEST THE G20 SUMMIT IN NEW YORK CITY!
Saturday, September. 19 & Sunday, September 20, 2009
(tentative dates)
ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE – BUT WE MUST FIGHT FOR IT!

Bail Out People - Not Banks
Money for Social Needs - Not War and Greed
Jobs, Housing, Healthcare & Education are a Right
Organize - Mobilize - Resist - Unite - Fight Back!

The third G20 summit is going to be in NYC on or around September 20, 2009. The G20 summits are taking place in response to the greatest worldwide economic crisis since the 1930s. However, the purpose of these high-level meetings of governments and bankers is not to rescue the people of the world from depression level unemployment, evictions, homelessness, poverty, social and economic inequality and war. These summits are about fixing the economic and financial order that puts profits before people-and fixing that system by creating more poverty, misery and suffering.

The last G20 Summit held in London in early April was met with massive protests both in London and throughout Europe. Now that the G20 is coming to the U.S., it is up to activists and organizations here to take up the challenge of uniting and working together to organize the widest protests possible. BOPM urges activists and organizations to endorse the call for protest at the G20 Summit in the fall, and to begin organizing for it. The potential for mass mobilization in September is truly infinite. So let’s begin the work required to realize that powerful potential.

SECOND:

THE BAIL OUT THE PEOPLE MOVEMENT INVITES YOU TO A
PEOPLE’S ECONOMIC SUMMIT IN NEW YORK CITY - SUNDAY MAY 31

(In conjunction with the UN Summit on the World Economic Crisis, June 1-3 in New York City)

People's Economic Summit
Starting Time - 11:00 am (tentative)
Inside the People's Summit Tent
in Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, 47th St. & 1st Ave.

>From June 1–3, The General Assembly of the UN will hold a summit on the world economic crisis in NYC. The UN is holding its own economic summit out of the concern that the 192 member nations of the UN are being marginalized by the G20 summit meetings.

In conjunction with this meeting, on Sunday May 31, the Bail Out the People Movement will hold a people’s summit on the world economic crisis in NYC outside the UN under a large tent in Dag Hammarskjold Plaza.

Come to the PEOPLE’S ECONOMIC SUMMIT–Share information and insight on how the economic is affecting poor and working people all over the U.S. and all over the world. Participate in panels and workshops. Help formulate a vision for a future free of social and economic inequality and injustice. Help plan the fight to make that vision a reality.

Planning for the G20 summit meeting in NYC in September, and forming the structures that will make organizing for the G20 inclusive and effective, will be high on the list of priorities at the People’s Economic Summit.

THIRD:

Come to the:
PEOPLE’S SUMMIT & TENT CITY:
PROTEST THE “NATIONAL BIG BUSINESS SUMMIT”

JUNE 14-17, 2009
GRAND CIRCUS PARK, DETROIT, MICHIGAN

Four Days of Active Resistance, Political Discussion and Strategizing for a “People's Stimulus Plans” and an “Economic Bill of Rights” for Working People and the Poor

On June 15-17, 2009, the National Business Summit, sponsored by the Detroit Economic Club, will take place at Ford Field. Millionaire capitalists like the heads of Conoco-Phillips, Dow Chemical, General Motors, Chrysler, Humana Inc., Ascension Health, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, BNSF Railway Co., and PVS Chemicals, as well as the presidents of the National Council on Competitiveness and U.S. Chamber of Commerce, will gather at this summit. President Barack Obama and cabinet members have been invited.

These wealthy businessmen (yes, almost all of them are rich white men) will put their greedy heads together to discuss “innovation and policy ideas in technology, energy, environment and manufacturing.” In other words, they will be strategizing on how to further increase their profits at the expense of the ever-shrinking middle class, the vast working class and the growing millions living in utter poverty.

The National Business Summit will be held in a city with record-high unemployment and poverty rates, lay-offs, budget cuts, school closings, utility rate hikes and shut-offs and massive home foreclosures. With a registration fee of $1,495, it is unlikely that any victims of foreclosures and evictions, let alone laid-off workers, will be able to attend the National Business Summit. No one at this event will be speaking in the interests of those most affected by the economic collapse.

The People’s Summit will be a dynamic event. During the People’s Summit, organizers will implement a moratorium on foreclosure evictions by going into the neighborhoods and supporting homeowners who are willing to confront the bailiffs. If there is a strike, demonstration or sit-in, the People’s Summit will join it. The People’s Summit will confront the big-business CEOs and politicians gathering next door. Join us!

RAISE YOUR VOICES TO DEMAND:
• Bail out the people!
• Jobs, healthcare, housing and education for all
• Moratorium on foreclosures, evictions and utility
shutoffs; housing is a right!
• Stop budget cuts and restore social services funding
• Stop tuition hikes and school closings
• Moratorium on layoffs, plant closings, pension thefts and union-busting; A job at a living wage is a right!
• End racism, sexism and anti-LGBT attacks
• Stop attacks on immigrants
. Bail out youth and students
• No more police brutality
• U.S. troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan
• Money for jobs and human needs, not war

Here's how you can help:

1) Endorse the call to action: http://www.bailoutpeople.org/peoplessummitendorse.shtml

2) Become an organizer: http://www.bailoutpeople.org/g20-peoplessummitsvolorgcents.shtml

3) Donate to help with organizing: http://bailoutpeople.org/donate.shtml

4) Spread the word!

People's Summit Introduction

2009-04-26T19:25:00.000-07:00

They can run but not hide

2009-04-22T20:12:00.000-07:00

Several days after several media outlets, including the Michigan Citizen and the Metro Times, published articles announcing the People's Summit and Tent City in Grand Circus Park, the Detroit Economic Club decided to move it's gathering from Ford Field, only two blocks from the planned Tent City, to the Renaissance Center, more than ten blocks away. According to the DEC email:

The Detroit Economic Club (DEC) will convene The National Summit from June 15-17, 2009 at the Detroit Marriott Renaissance Center, rather than Ford Field, as originally planned.

Economic pressures affecting business and policy conferences around the world this year have prompted the DEC to make this decision. This will save costs and help to ensure
The National Summit's success as a new national forum for business, government, academic, labor and other leaders to explore priorities for America's future.

All aspects of The National Summit's original vision will be accommodated within this new venue, including the significant dialogue we expect this event will encourage on America's future. The program and content will center on the creation of America's "To Do List" to move the country forward in Technology, Energy, the Environment and Manufacturing.

We say, " You can run but you can't hide from the people."

People vs. the powerful - People’s Summit takes shape

2009-04-17T19:59:00.000-07:00

By Eric T. Campbell
The Michigan Citizen

DETROIT — Hundreds of America’s most powerful businessmen and CEOs will convene inside Ford Field on June 15 to discuss the future of the U.S. economy. In fact, the National Summit is described on its website as, “A Gathering to Define America’s Future.”

Area activists have determined that any discourse on the path of the economy should include those who are most affected — the working class and poor of America who have endured the brunt of the current economic upheaval. In response, the Moratorium Now! Coalition has applied to the City of Detroit for a permit to stage a corresponding People’s Summit in Grand Circus Park from June 14-17.

The People’s Summit is hoping to assemble citizens from all over the region to strategize for a People’s Stimulus Plan and an Economic Bill of Rights. Organizers say that the rally will be an opportunity to confront big business with the realities of the economy.

“It was our view that people should be allowed to be out there and discussing their own economic agenda,” Moratorium Now! Coalition member David Sole told the Michigan Citizen. “We believe we have the right to meet, especially with the way the economy is now.”

more

In tent city

2009-04-15T19:50:00.000-07:00

by Curt Guyette, Metro Times

.... For members of the group Moratorium Now, which began howling about the problems related to foreclosures long before most people were paying attention, the event will be a chance to provide a bunch of rich CEOs with a sharp dose of reality when they show up at Ford Field.

The intent is to set up a tent city at Grand Circus Park. Can you say Hooverville? ...

People's Summit Organizing Meeting

2009-04-04T20:10:00.000-07:00

Come to an organizing meeting for the People's Summit and Tent City, June 14-17 in Detroit to counter the National Economic (Corporate CEO) Summit taking place at Ford Field in Detroit. The meeting will take place:

Saturday, April 11, 1:00 pm
5920 Second Ave. (just north of Wayne State University in Detroit)
Call 313-689-5508 for more information or visit www.moratorium-mi.org

Detroit March and Rally - May 1, 2009

2009-04-02T20:48:00.000-07:00

March and Rally
Friday
May 1, 2009
10 AM
Gather at W. Vernor & Woodmere (Patton Park), Detroit
March down Vernor to Clark Park for outdoor rally at noon

Initiated by Latinos Unidos

Lost your job? Losing your home?

Blame the rich, crooked bankers and mortgage lenders NOT immigrant workers!

read more

DEMAND:

* Jobs at a living Wage
* Passage of the Employee Free Choice Act
* Health care for all
* Housing
* Education
* An end to raids and deportations

Bail Out the People NOT Banks

2009-03-07T22:52:00.000-08:00

People’s Summit June 14-17

2009-03-07T19:51:00.000-08:00

People’s Summit June 14-17

By Kris Hamel
Detroit

Published Mar 7, 2009 6:59 AM

The Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures and Evictions voted unanimously on Feb. 28 to call a People’s Summit in Detroit from June 14-17. Organizers will begin widespread outreach to garner endorsers and draw other organizations into building for the June activities. These actions will include a march along Woodward Avenue for jobs and housing and a tent city in Grand Circus Park of the foreclosed-upon, jobless, underpaid, homeless and all who struggle for social and economic justice.

The People’s Summit will occur simultaneously with the National Business Summit, sponsored by the Detroit Economic Club, taking place at Ford Field in downtown Detroit. Millionaire and billionaire capitalists, including the heads of ConocoPhillips, Dow Chemical, General Motors, Chrysler, Humana Inc., Ascension Health, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, BNSF Railway Co. and PVS Chemicals, will gather at this event June 15-17. The presidents of the National Council on Competitiveness and U.S. Chamber of Commerce will also be attending.

Calling it “a Gathering to Define America’s Future,” the business summit’s Web site states: “Participants will have direct access to ... top business, government and academic leaders and a voice in shaping the outcome of the discussion.” In order to have a voice, however, a registration fee of $1,495 per person is required.

Those who can afford this exorbitant registration fee will be putting their heads together to discuss “innovation and policy ideas in technology, energy, environment and manufacturing.” In other words, they will be strategizing on how to further increase their profits at the expense of the ever-shrinking middle class, the vast working class and the growing millions living in utter poverty.

These business tycoons will gather in a city reeling from rampant foreclosures and evictions, record unemployment, plant closings, mass layoffs, school closings, cutbacks, union busting and other forms of devastation.

President Barack Obama and cabinet members have been invited to this gathering. Will these business tycoons allow Obama’s economic stimulus plan to proceed? Will they create jobs at living wages? Will homeowners have real opportunities to avoid foreclosure? Or will the suffering and misery continue?

Only a mass struggle of those most affected by the capitalist economic crisis will turn the tide. The Moratorium NOW! Coalition organizers note that so far only the banks and mortgage lenders have been bailed out, to the tune of trillions of dollars of workers’ tax money—money sorely needed to rebuild the lives of the people.

Organizers hope that the People’s Summit will attract everyone struggling for social and economic justice, not just in Detroit and Michigan, but on a national level. Everyone involved in any progressive struggle is urged to organize for the June 14-17 event.

Kris Hamel is an organizer for the Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures and Evicitions. She can be reached at krisdetroit@yahoo.com

Draft Emergency Bail Out the People Program

2009-01-20T20:33:00.000-08:00

Bail Out the
People Movement
FIGHBACK CONFERENCE
Draft Working Paper
Realizing the Fightback—Some Perspective and Plans

The following was adopted at the Jan. 17 Fightback Conference in NYC. It is a work in progress.

Contents
Phase 1: Establishing a fightback program
Phase 2: May Day— a possible turning point in the fightback
Phase 3: March on Washington, D.C. for Jobs
Convening a People’s Assembly
Proposed Campaigns •Mobilizations •Draft Fightback Program
1. Campaigns
A. Organizing the unemployed on a mass basis
B. A People’s Assembly
C. Support and expand Moratorium Now!
D. Solidarity with immigrant workers
E. Recruiting an army of volunteer organizers

link to Draft Emergency Bail Out the People Program