What is today's protest At City-County about?

[guito13]

I see a group in front of the city-county building? Whats on today's agenda? [[Pay me more, we dont need other peoples help because we are doing a great job on our own, dont pull over and arrest people who break the law, etc.)

[Wesley Mouch]

No gentrification, please. We like our neighborhood crappy and with low property values. Do not under any circumstances bring productivity, jobs, and success to our neighborhoods.

[SaintMe]

Hard to tell what they were chanting most of the time, but when they stormed the Westin I could definitely make out "No more Orr." And someone was holding a sign about stopping foreclosures, but there were many more I couldn't make out. Also there is a man in front of the Federal Building who has set up a sound system and is singing Christian and patriotic songs for all of our corner of downtown to hear. I wish it was Friday already.

[Danny]

Protesting against Orr's Detroit bankruptcy precedings or gentrification projects will not solve their woes.

[aoife]

It is an anti-emergency manager protest. Among other things, they want the banks to pay for the bankruptcy, not pensioners. Other people down there might have other agendas -- it is May Day, so it is the traditional time of year to get out in the street and air the grievances.

[noise]

It is very easy to dismiss protesters when the aristocracy is so fantastic, right?

[Danny]

It is an anti-emergency manager protest. Among other things, they want the banks to pay for the bankruptcy, not pensioners. Other people down there might have other agendas -- it is May Day, so it is the traditional time of year to get out in the street and air the grievances.

Banks pay for Detroit's financial mess! They got to be kidding. Detroit mayors and its city council borrow up to 18 billion dollars to pay their bills. [[their luxury bills) The creditors want their money back one way or another. So keep on protesting, Detroiters and keep on whining. It won't do any good to solver this matter.

[dtowncitylover]

air the grievances.

I gotta a lot of problems with you people!

[corktownyuppie]

For the better part of a century, protests and marches were an effective way to get things you wanted. We have now reached the limits of its effectiveness. But they won't believe it until they've tried it a few more times and get nothing more for their efforts.

[Jimaz]

I find it amusing when protesters protest protesting.

[MEB]

Today is May Day, International Worker's Day. It is a yearly protest and takes place all over the world.

[MEB]

"We are marching to demand the end of the parasitic and systematic robbery of the city and its people. We demand an end to paying the loan sharks of Wall Street who destroyed the city and who are now demanding retirees’ pensions in the City’s bankruptcy. We demand an end to mass incarceration which makes a young person of color more likely to be in prison than to be living above the poverty line. We are demanding Kevyn Orr hire young people to begin the process of revitalizing the city. We need people to repair the roads, to repair homes, to rebuild the schools and medical facilities. The resources exist, the money is there, and there are people who need the work!

WE DEMAND:
• Removal of the racist, anti-democratic, anti-worker, pro-bank Emergency Managers from Michigan cities and schools.
• Defeat of the "Plan of Adjustment" that destroys pensions and loots city assets.
• Banks pay for destroying Detroit neighborhoods and jobs.
• Full support for Public Education and termination of the failed Education Achievement Authority. No to charter schools.
• NO tax giveaways to Illitch, Gilbert, and their ilk.
• Stop gentrification and the removal of poor and working people from Detroit.
• Restore and increase state revenue sharing.
• Jobs for all. With 60% Detroit youth unemployment -- Hire youth to rebuild the neighborhoods.
• Money for People not for War. Stop U.S. intervention in Ukraine, Syria, and Venezuela.
• Moratorium on all Bank and Tax foreclosures, evictions, and utility shutoffs for people. Housing and water are Human Rights!
• Public control of public spaces -- the "commons".
• No giveaway of public assets, including the Detroit Institute of Arts [[DIA), to corporations and private foundations.
• End to attacks on women's reproductive rights.
• Increase in the minimum wage to $15/hr and an end to falling wages and unequal two-tier pay schemes -- $7.45 is not enough.
• Stop the attacks on the LGBTQ community. Uphold marriage equality.
• Stop the attacks on communities and people of color.
• System change NOT climate change -- No to tar sands, fracking, pet coke.
• Stop deportations and attacks on immigrants and undocumented workers.
• Stop police brutality. No to racial profiling.
• Repeal "Right-to-Work".
• Overturn Public Act 436 and restore democracy."

[gvidas]

I wonder if public protesting has, in fact, gone as far as being counterproductive. It's easy to ignore, as this thread shows. It's not a clear way to communicate, also illustrated here. Occasionally, with great persistence, you can bring an issue to the forefront of discussion for a little while. But, most of the time, you're taking a bunch of people who're busy and stressed out and overworked, dragging them to one centralized location, and preaching to the choir. Everyone involved feels like they "did something," satisfying any obligation to act that they may have felt; the precious amount of time they were able to contribute is used up. By participating in an ineffective yet public display, pent-up emotion dissipates like a short to ground.

[Dan Wesson]

I used to be a leftist radical during my early years in Detroit and especially when I was attending Wayne States School of Labor.

It was great.

Then one day I learned an unvarnished truth. Workers hold the short end of the stick in this country. That truth? Workers do not own the means of production.

I seen the light a while back and I'll be damned if it ain't turned out so!!

[MEB]

Protests are only a very small portion of social justice work. Alone, they do little however, I have participated in demonstrations at banks in Detroit that have been incredibly effective in issues of foreclosure. Did Fannie Mae change their foreclosure policies? No. Were a few homes saved? Yes. How do we measure effectiveness?

It is easy to claim protests are ineffective and our leaders, I'm sure, are happy with complacent behavior protesting on facebook and message boards. I guess some people on this forum missed the whole Arab Spring thingie. Protests need critical mass and if all the "pent up emotions" of Detroiters were present today I imagine there would be more attention to the anger.

[guito13]

SO the entitlement crowd huh? How about people work for things....I dont have a problem helping out people who have tried to work but hit a rough patch but my guess is that these people just want handouts...

[sumas]

"We are marching to demand the end of the parasitic and systematic robbery of the city and its people. We demand an end to paying the loan sharks of Wall Street who destroyed the city and who are now demanding retirees’ pensions in the City’s bankruptcy. We demand an end to mass incarceration which makes a young person of color more likely to be in prison than to be living above the poverty line. We are demanding Kevyn Orr hire young people to begin the process of revitalizing the city. We need people to repair the roads, to repair homes, to rebuild the schools and medical facilities. The resources exist, the money is there, and there are people who need the work!

WE DEMAND:
• Removal of the racist, anti-democratic, anti-worker, pro-bank Emergency Managers from Michigan cities and schools.
• Defeat of the "Plan of Adjustment" that destroys pensions and loots city assets.
• Banks pay for destroying Detroit neighborhoods and jobs.
• Full support for Public Education and termination of the failed Education Achievement Authority. No to charter schools.
• NO tax giveaways to Illitch, Gilbert, and their ilk.
• Stop gentrification and the removal of poor and working people from Detroit.
• Restore and increase state revenue sharing.
• Jobs for all. With 60% Detroit youth unemployment -- Hire youth to rebuild the neighborhoods.
• Money for People not for War. Stop U.S. intervention in Ukraine, Syria, and Venezuela.
• Moratorium on all Bank and Tax foreclosures, evictions, and utility shutoffs for people. Housing and water are Human Rights!
• Public control of public spaces -- the "commons".
• No giveaway of public assets, including the Detroit Institute of Arts [[DIA), to corporations and private foundations.
• End to attacks on women's reproductive rights.
• Increase in the minimum wage to $15/hr and an end to falling wages and unequal two-tier pay schemes -- $7.45 is not enough.
• Stop the attacks on the LGBTQ community. Uphold marriage equality.
• Stop the attacks on communities and people of color.
• System change NOT climate change -- No to tar sands, fracking, pet coke.
• Stop deportations and attacks on immigrants and undocumented workers.
• Stop police brutality. No to racial profiling.
• Repeal "Right-to-Work".
• Overturn Public Act 436 and restore democracy."

I can easily agree with 90% of what you wrote

[guito13]

I can easily agree with 90% of what you wrote

You agree that housing is a right? So who pays for the lazy people who think they deserve to have a home and utilities without having to pay for them?

[Smirnoff]

"We are marching to demand the end of the parasitic and systematic robbery of the city and its people. We demand an end to paying the loan sharks of Wall Street who destroyed the city and who are now demanding retirees’ pensions in the City’s bankruptcy. We demand an end to mass incarceration which makes a young person of color more likely to be in prison than to be living above the poverty line. We are demanding Kevyn Orr hire young people to begin the process of revitalizing the city. We need people to repair the roads, to repair homes, to rebuild the schools and medical facilities. The resources exist, the money is there, and there are people who need the work!

WE DEMAND:
• Removal of the racist, anti-democratic, anti-worker, pro-bank Emergency Managers from Michigan cities and schools.
• Defeat of the "Plan of Adjustment" that destroys pensions and loots city assets.
• Banks pay for destroying Detroit neighborhoods and jobs.
• Full support for Public Education and termination of the failed Education Achievement Authority. No to charter schools.
• NO tax giveaways to Illitch, Gilbert, and their ilk.
• Stop gentrification and the removal of poor and working people from Detroit.
• Restore and increase state revenue sharing.
• Jobs for all. With 60% Detroit youth unemployment -- Hire youth to rebuild the neighborhoods.
• Money for People not for War. Stop U.S. intervention in Ukraine, Syria, and Venezuela.
• Moratorium on all Bank and Tax foreclosures, evictions, and utility shutoffs for people. Housing and water are Human Rights!
• Public control of public spaces -- the "commons".
• No giveaway of public assets, including the Detroit Institute of Arts [[DIA), to corporations and private foundations.
• End to attacks on women's reproductive rights.
• Increase in the minimum wage to $15/hr and an end to falling wages and unequal two-tier pay schemes -- $7.45 is not enough.
• Stop the attacks on the LGBTQ community. Uphold marriage equality.
• Stop the attacks on communities and people of color.
• System change NOT climate change -- No to tar sands, fracking, pet coke.
• Stop deportations and attacks on immigrants and undocumented workers.
• Stop police brutality. No to racial profiling.
• Repeal "Right-to-Work".
• Overturn Public Act 436 and restore democracy."

You Go Girl!

[noise]

You agree that housing is a right? So who pays for the lazy people who think they deserve to have a home and utilities without having to pay for them?

Some believe a community or civilization has real meaning.

But then, reading your misguided first reply here, I'm not sure you'd ever understand common sense or greater good.

[Wheels]

• Increase in the minimum wage to $15/hr and an end to falling wages and unequal two-tier pay schemes -- $7.45 is not enough.

[guito13]

Some believe a community or civilization has real meaning.

But then, reading your misguided first reply here, I'm not sure you'd ever understand common sense or greater good.

WTF are you talking about. I understand common sense. I know that in order for you to have something, someone has to work to create it and sustain it. Ill be damned if you somehow think its your RIGHT to have something that others worked for.

How about you lay down some facts rather than type up some hippie shit?

[noise]

The facts are that I already said you wouldn't understand. Why waste my time?

You'll be damned to believe the Constitution grants rights? Natural rights? Human rights? When reality clashes with your fantasy world, it must be awfully scary.

The concept of the USA is some crazy hippie shit, obviously.

[guito13]

The facts are that I already said you wouldn't understand. Why waste my time?

You'll be damned to believe the Constitution grants rights? Natural rights? Human rights? When reality clashes with your fantasy world, it must be awfully scary.

The concept of the USA is some crazy hippie shit, obviously.

You are a bunch of NOISE, no logic, no facts, just catch phrases that are par for the course. You think you have the "Natural Right" to have someone work to provide you with water and shelter?? Who do you think should do that work for you, slaves?

[Honky Tonk]

Protests are only a very small portion of social justice work. Alone, they do little however, I have participated in demonstrations at banks in Detroit that have been incredibly effective in issues of foreclosure. Did Fannie Mae change their foreclosure policies? No. Were a few homes saved? Yes. How do we measure effectiveness?

It is easy to claim protests are ineffective and our leaders, I'm sure, are happy with complacent behavior protesting on facebook and message boards. I guess some people on this forum missed the whole Arab Spring thingie. Protests need critical mass and if all the "pent up emotions" of Detroiters were present today I imagine there would be more attention to the anger.

I remember a day in 1967 that all the "pent up emotions of Detroiters were present". To this day Detroit is still trying to recover.