Detroit People’s Summit and Tent City spurs fightback

The People’s Summit and Tent City was convened June 14-17 by a broad coalition of activists, many of whom were organizing under the banner of the Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures and Evictions.

WW photo: Kris Hamel

When coalition organizers in Detroit got wind that the National Business Summit, sponsored by the Detroit Economic Club, would be taking place in their city, they formed an alliance with a number of progressive labor, clergy and community members and organizations to create the People’s Summit.

As big-business CEOs and corporate heads met at the GM Renaissance Center to discuss how to lay off more workers and get more concessions from the unions, working-class and oppressed people of all ages and nationalities came together to put forward a fight-back program and demand jobs at living wages or income for all, as well as the right to health care, housing, education and all human needs.

People’s Summiteers were galled that the big-business summit took place in a city devastated by the economic crisis, at the headquarters of General Motors no less—GM, which just announced it was closing seven auto plants in Michigan alone.

The People’s Summit, anchored by a Tent City at Grand Circus Park, twice marched on the GM Renaissance Center in militant actions to demand, “Bailout the workers, not the banks and corporations!” Hundreds of workers took part in each protest.

The People’s Summit and Tent City were thoroughly anti-capitalist in nature. Speeches and discussions lambasted the capitalist system of private ownership and exploitation, and demanded that people’s needs must come first.

About 400 people registered and many more took part in the events held over the course of several days.

Some of the many activities included a “CEO Devastation Tour” of Detroit and a protest at the 36th District Court, complete with handing out “know your rights” leaflets to homeowners and renters facing foreclosure and eviction. The call for a moratorium on foreclosures, evictions, plant closings, layoffs and utility shutoffs was a major focus of the four-day event.

Differently-abled Detroiters led a protest demanding improved access to public facilities and increased general awareness of disability rights. Disabled activists spoke out at a Detroit City Council meeting where they received a promise that the Council would try to rectify their grievances.

Special sessions and discussion groups focused on immigrant rights, organizing a labor and union fight-back, youth and student struggles, the way forward for auto worker retirees, winning a moratorium on foreclosures and evictions, the crisis in public education, police brutality and prisoner rights. There was a strategizing session for the G20 protests that are being organized for Sept. 24-25 in Pittsburgh.

Each evening, after a delicious and nutritious meal was prepared and served by activist volunteers to several hundred people, a spirited and militant rally took place, along with music concerts and cultural entertainment.