March to The Spirit of Detroit to protest the transit cuts and inefficiency of Detroit public transportation.

Join Occupy Detroit on, October 25 @ 4PM for a march from Grand Circus Park to The Spirit of Detroit!

Link to PDF: DemonstrationDDOT flyer

By Nathanael Romero for Occupy Detroit Media

Occupy Detroiters worked hard Sunday to construct and move into their new shelter. Credit: John Kuhn

With all the media coverage depicting occupiers as a bunch of lazy, shiftless kids, it’s easy to overlook the fact that occupations likes the ones in Detroit and New York are, at their core, places where people come to roll up their sleeves and put themselves to work.

In a display of engineering prowess and community cooperation, Detroit occupiers erected a giant tarp structure Sunday to house the food, medical, and comfort stations at Grand Circus Park. Occupy Detroit enacted its own version of an old-fashioned Amish barn-raising, utilizing donated resources to construct a canopy structure at the northern end of the park. The size of a large house and anchored to park trees, the new structure is sturdy and able to withstand the wind and rain while serving as a space for both work and storage. Members of the Electrical Workers Union (IBEW) aided in its construction.

The operation Sunday was impressive for its spontaneity. Everyone joined in to move tents, equipment, and resources to the newly built structure from their old home at the southern end of the park. Many hands made light work of moving tents, setting up storage spaces for produce and supplies, and constructing a floor for the medical tent out of donated pallets and plywood.

In addition, the move went on without disrupting any of the essential services provided by the food, medical, and comfort stations. Occupiers munched on tamales and chips distributed at the old food station, even while volunteers set up the new one.

A few weeks back, a young man at Occupy Wall Street carried a sign that read, “I lost my job and found an occupation” These words captured the dynamic Sunday as Occupy Detroit put itself to work. Whether those involved were unemployed or using their time away from their day jobs, everyone joined in to occupy both their time and themselves with the building of the Occupy Detroit community. The political significance of Sunday’s effort was not lost on those at the park: the combined efforts proved that people — motivated by a desire to respond directly to the emerging needs of their community — put themselves to work in service of people rather than profit.

As the camp grows, the demand for volunteers and supplies will only increase. Visit the donation page at occupy-detroit.us for a list of supplies needed by occupiers. And for those who have yet to visit Grand Circus Park, stop by and learn how you can become involved in the rapidly emerging community at Occupy Detroit.

Credit: Mark Tucker

By Nathanael Romero for Occupy Detroit Media

This Tuesday, after spending two weeks at Occupy Wall Street, I arrived at Occupy Detroit. Leaving New York wasn’t an easy decision. I had grown to love not simply the energy and joy of Liberty Plaza, but first and foremost all the creative and compassionate people who had come to make that space their home. But as it was the case with going to New York, I felt compelled to return to my home state and witness the encampment at Grand Circus Park for myself. In both cases, my decision to join the movement felt less like a choice and more like being pulled by an irresistible magnetic force.

Since arriving at Occupy Detroit, I have joined the Media Working Group. My experiences in dealing with the swarm of reporters at Occupy Wall Street have informed me about how clueless the corporate media can be when it comes to understanding what the movement is all about. Whenever reporters asked me why I was there or what we were protesting, I often found it difficult to dignify these questions with a response. But we in Michigan know exactly what the folks on Wall Street are protesting: we’ve dealt with economic hardship for a long time now and know firsthand the damage caused by the financial and corporate elite.

It is not a fault of ours when the media says that the Occupy Movement lacks focus, or when naysayers are unsure of what this movement is all about. Rather, such superficial criticisms are a product of the media’s failure to connect the dots. One powerful element of the occupy movement is its composition – a diverse coalition of everyday people unified in the understanding that we cannot fight for economic justice without fighting for racial equality, for peace, or for ecological justice.

The media fails to grasp what we at Occupy Detroit understand, that Wall Street is but one player (albeit an important one) in a global system in which finance, governments, and multinationals work for the benefit of the 1%. We understand that rise of foreclosures in Detroit is not simply an isolated phenomenon but is enmeshed within a global system that privileges the rich at the expense of the rest of us. We understand that the problems of this world cannot be tackled by a single-issue approach. We understand that so much of what is wrong in this world is interconnected. We understand that if we are to make a better world, we have to tackle things globally, as well as locally.

The networks of global commerce, international finance, state and military have no center: the net of injustice is cast wide, globally. When we focus our efforts on various nodes within this network, such as Wall Street, Washington, or Lansing, we realize that what goes on in these places of power has disastrous implications for the entire world, as well as for our home communities. The corporate media do not like to think in global terms such as these because to do so would undermine their very existence. The fortunate thing is that we know better than to be duped by media whose primary function is not to inform, but to serve the interests of the 1%.

March from Bank of America. Credit: Natasha Louis

By Evan Rohar for Occupy Detroit Media

As Occupy Wall Street and the Communications Workers of America prepared to rally against corporate power at Verizon Headquarters today, Occupy Detroit marched from its base camp in Grand Circus Park to Bank of America, demanding an end to foreclosures in Michigan. The state ranked fourth in the country for foreclosures in December 2010, with one foreclosure on every 282 homes.

Chanting “From New York, to LA, occupy the USA,” the crowd of 200 filtered onto Woodward and headed toward Griswold. They turned the corner to find a contingent of Autoworkers (UAW) and other union and community supporters in a rally already under way. Rank-and-filers from the State and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), Teamsters (IBT), and Teachers (AFT) unions had joined the UAW at noon in front of the historic Guardian Building, home of Bank of America’s Detroit headquarters.

By 12:30pm, the crowd had outgrown the sidewalk and spilled into the adjacent street. Police were ready with metal barricades to contain protesters in a small section of the street.

“We need to do something about foreclosures. The banks got the bailout, we got the shaft. The UAW is out to support working class people, whoever you are,” said a Chrysler factory worker.

Sister Moon, an official with the Metro Detroit Labor Council, was gladdened and encouraged by the movement. “It’s very important for the community to know that labor supports Occupy Detroit.”

Ed Rowe, pastor at Central United Methodist Church, declared through a bullhorn, “If you’re going to a house of worship and people aren’t out in the streets with you, what are you doing there?” He called on people to mobilize their communities of faith to fight injustice.

Linda Jackson, a Detroit teacher retiree, said she came out to protest the financial giant because of the effect foreclosures have on schools. “How can you concentrate on what you’re doing if you’re afraid you’ll be out on the street?” she asked, relating that she knows many teachers in danger of losing their homes. “Students are facing the same challenges.”

Police were powerless to stop the march of about 150 that broke away and roamed Greektown for miles, sounding more petulant than authoritative in their requests that protesters leave a lane open.

National Lawyers Guild “green hats” were on hand as legal observers and advised demonstrators throughout the un-permitted action. No arrests were made.

A city worker and AFSCME Local 1583 member stepped into the street and joined the impromptu march during a break. “I came to see what the people are up to,” she said. “The people are pretty pissed off.”

As Occupy Detroit and rank-and-file unionists marched together through the thoroughfares of Detroit, their voices lifted a version of “While the Saints go Marching In” onto the chilly fall air. “Well you’re gonna see a revolution, when Detroit goes marching in,” they sang. The refrain lasted for much of the route, bubbling up several different times.

Protesters felt a spirit of defiance not often expressed in the city. “People are so afraid, usually,” said Jasmine Geary, a publicist and member of the Occupy Detroit media team. “But everybody’s got each other’s backs today.”

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A version of this article is published at Labor Notes

Outsource to Detroit. Credit: Natasha Louis

By Kim Hunter for Occupy Detroit Media

It can be hard to shake off training. My training has been in media and how to wage media campaigns. It may not surprise those of us living in a sound bite world, that media training is focused on being focused. Who’s the audience? What’s the message? How do we deliver it? Virtually everything in a media campaign or message flows from the answers to those three questions.

I asked myself those three questions when Occupy Wall Street with its large list of demands became public. There was, to me, a lack of “focus.” But it seemed almost academic. Those folks were carrying banners under which I could march, but they were hundreds of miles away. I wasn’t in a position to suggest anything in terms of “messaging.”

But the Occupy movement spread like wildfire and, before I knew it, the movement was in Detroit and
I was at the first General Assembly in Grand Circus Park on a Friday night. The meeting moved me. I
experienced a shift in my gut from the trepidation about the many causes under the Movement’s very
big tent. I was lifted by the people and the process.

The crowd was mostly white but People of Color and women were not just a sizable presence but at
the front, facilitating and moving things along. Baby boomers and older were there with the youth.
Whatever the inevitable comparison between the Occupy Movements and a certain other party, the
diversity, not just in the crowd but in those facilitating is a claim they can’t make. What’s more, Occupy
has gone international, like the open mourning after September 11, 2001 and the global antiwar protest
that followed.

Equally as inspiring as the diversity of the crowd was the process. Democratic consensus has issues. The
declaration that the folks leading the process were facilitators and not leaders points, if nothing else, to
the need for new ways to think and speak about leadership in a truly egalitarian process. The facilitators
at the front of the crowd led openly and transparently. They just didn’t want to be called leaders.

More important than the labels was what took place: all voices were heard and respected and this with
a crowd of hundreds. I felt that even with the flaws and potential pitfalls, an honest and open attempt
was being made to be the change we seek, to walk the talk on the way to a new and more just society,
to blend the method and the goal, the means and the end.

Speaking of goals, I felt like the process of the meeting was so educational and functioned so different
from what I assume (rightly or wrongly) most of our groups experience has been, that the meeting
itself was as valuable staking claim to the public park space. I realized that even a meeting being run to
reflect who we are and how we want to live is as valuable as the most succinct and powerful slogan.

Even so, the Media Committee has come up with a unifying framework for expressing the movement’s
aspirations and goals. If you want to know what they are, I hope you are present when it’s presented to the General Assembly so you can experience people working diligently to act more human.

Occupy Detroiters demand that Bank of America stop all foreclosures. Credit: Ralph Jones

Occupy Detroit rallied at Bank of America Tuesday to deliver a letter demanding a halt to foreclosures in Michigan. Fifty protesters marched at noon from Grand Circus Park down Woodward to the historic Guardian building, home of the financial giant’s Detroit headquarters. They gave impassioned speeches through bullhorns on the sidewalk in front of the building, highlighting the bank’s atrocities.

Bank of America received $45 billion of taxpayer money in 2008 to stem its imminent collapse, supposedly to shield the 99% from a worse crisis. In 2011, the bank shows no sign that it deserved to survive the financial turmoil beginning three years ago. It continues to foreclose on homeowners tricked into usurious mortgages, kicking Michigan families to the curb despite pegging $6.2 billion in profits last quarter. The bank has also been at the vanguard of fee hikes and penalties.

A Teamsters Union retiree held a sign reading, “Bank of America: We’ll take your money and your house. Bank on it.” Another protester cut up his Bank of America credit card.

Occupy Detroiters will march on the bank again Friday, October 21 at noon  if it fails to comply with the simple request of allowing people to remain in their homes. We invite faith-based organizations, community groups, and labor unions to join our efforts on behalf of all the 99%.

 We are the 99%. We demand fairness.

March from Grand Circus Park to Bank of America
Demand an end to home foreclosures!

Join Occupy Detroit on Friday, October 21 at 12pm for a march from Grand Circus Park to Bank of America!

Link to PDF: Demonstration Flyer

Click for full size or select PDF download above for best quality

by Evan Rohar for Occupy Detroit Media

Occupy Detroit continues into its third day as participants prepare for the third General Assembly at noon in Grand Circus Park. The rain, wind, and chilly fall air conspired to dampen moods beginning the first night, but spirits remained high and temperaments easy. Tents continued to spring up on the lawn on the west side of Woodward. The encampment is fast becoming like a small town, where strangers are greeted as warmly as old friends.

Committees met all day Saturday, consolidating their communications and organizing the needs of the movement. The Medical team has a tent. Info has set up a table with contact lists, schedules, and a growing library. The Comfort team ensures that all personal needs are met.

The Food team is doing a spectacular job receiving and distributing donations to feed the bodies and souls of Detroit’s 99%. Many of the area’s homeless received meals Saturday from the encampment and expressed appreciation for its presence and message. Feeding the hungry is seen as a responsibility of the budding movement in creating the world we wish to see, rather than condescending charity.

The legal team, staffed by members of the National Lawyers Guild and Sugar Law Center, maintain constant vigilance in their bright green hats, ready to defend the rights of all. Other committees are working day and night behind the scenes to make the movement happen.

The Direct Action committee held a nearly three hour long meeting in which it discussed events, marches, and protests for the coming week. The committee will bring its proposals to the General Assembly at noon, targeting banks, the state government, and the Detroit Department of Transportation. The GA will debate the proposals and decide whether and how to proceed. Look out 1%, we’re coming for you.

Though the violence of corporate-imposed inequality and injustice reign in the world outside, the powers of price and profit have no say in Grand Circus Park. Human solidarity, empathy with one’s fellow person, is our guide. Democracy and consensus, our compass.

The people of the park make decisions through a direct, democratic process. We are free, and we invite all the 99% to join us.