Thursday, August 14, 2014

Detroit Corporate Mayor Issues Ten-Point Plan on Water Crisis

Links between Detroit and Gaza reaffirmed at Freedom Friday 13

By Abayomi Azikiwe
Editor, Pan-African News Wire

In an effort to calm the storms related to the massive water shut-offs in Detroit, corporate Mayor Mike Duggan has issued a so-called “10-point plan” at a press conference on Thurs. Aug. 7.

The issue of an indefinite moratorium was not discussed neither was the role of the banks and the drive towards privatization. Duggan’s rhetoric feigned concern about the way in which the shut-off campaign by emergency manager Kevyn Orr was handled but  did not in effect criticize the outright terror being inflicted on the people in this majority African American city.

Not letting up the pressure on a number of fundamental issues including the right to water services, the role of the banks in the crisis and the connection between United States domestic policy against the nationally oppressed and working class and its relationship to foreign affairs in the form of war and economic exploitation of people within countries around the world, Freedom Friday 13 was held on Aug. 8 in downtown Detroit.

Water for the People From Gaza to Detroit

Freedom Friday 13 was held at the Detroit Water & Sewerage Dept. (DWSD) and participants marched to Chase Bank in the financial district for a picket line and rally to draw connections to Chase and the swaps terminated in 2012, where $537 million was paid out to the criminal loan sharks.

This event was covered by the Telesur English network which interviewed activists working to guarantee water rights to the people of Detroit. In addition, the Rebel Diaz Arts Collective from New York City was also on hand to express their solidarity with the people of the city.

Three weeks before on July 18, thousands had gathered in the streets of downtown Detroit to demand a moratorium on water shut-offs at the height of the terror being inflicted on residents by the emergency manager. That Freedom Friday protest coincided with Net Roots Nation Conference held at Cobo Conference Center.

Due to the tireless solidarity work of the National Nurses United (NNU) and the National Election Integrity Coalition (NEIC), the conference organizers agreed to shut down the gathering for two hours and to go into the streets for a mass action in support of the people of Detroit. The demonstration enjoyed local, national and international coverage pushing the struggle in the city out even further and consequently winning more sympathy and consciousness related to the conditions imposed on the people of this majority African American municipality.

Rebel Diaz sent a solidarity statement for the demonstration on July 18 which read in part that: “From The Borough of The Bronx River, the Rebel Diaz Arts Collective sends a warm greeting of love and solidarity to the brave people of Detroit. We keep you present in our thoughts, as you struggle for the fundamental human right of access to clean water; water that is being denied by tyrant banks, emergency managers, and greedy technocrats who put the needs of corporations before the needs of the people. “

The statement continues stressing that “Across the world we are seeing colonial aggression over oil, land, and resources, from Gaza to the Ukraine; wars that serve the needs of a small corporate elite, at the expense of children, families, and entire communities that they consider disposable variables in today’s global economy. Today we assert our humanity and say NO to the theft and privatization of water!”

Several financial institutions have been cited in the massive theft of funds from a publically-owned agency such as the DWSD. These banks and corporations include JPMorgan Chase, UBS, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley.

Banker and corporate-magnate Dan Gilbert of Quicken Loans is now in control of over 60 buildings in downtown and his security agents guarded the entrances to Chase Bank outside Campus Martius with determination on Aug. 8 when activists picketed the facility. Speakers condemned the role of Chase in the housing and municipal fraud that has helped shape the economic conditions in Detroit, now facing a draconian trial on a “plan of adjustment” that provides nothing for the masses of working and poor people in the city of 700,000.

 The Freedom Friday demonstration then went to the federal court house where a Palestine support demonstration was being held. The link between the siege of Gaza and the emergency management and privatization of Detroit was made including access to water.

Palestine solidarity activists cheered as the Freedom Friday marchers joined them at the Federal Court House on W. Lafayette. This is same building where numerous protests have taken place over the last year against the emergency management and forced bankruptcy of the city.

The two groups then demonstrated through the areas surrounding the federal courthouse chanting is support of the rights of the peoples of Detroit and Palestine.

The following day, Aug. 9, had been designated as an international day of action in support of the people of Gaza who have been massacred over the last several weeks in the largest open-air prison in the world. Demonstrations were held in London and New York City as well as other cities. 

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