Anti-war activists to run in Michigan election

Activists with the Michigan Emergency Committee Against War and Injustice (MECAWI), a prominent anti-imperialist, anti-war group centered in Detroit, have entered the November elections with a statewide Stop the War Slate on the Green Party of Michigan ticket.

At the Green Party nominating convention, held Aug. 5 near Lansing, the Stop the War Slate overwhelmingly won the nomination of David Sole for U.S. Senator. Thirty-nine out of some 50 delegates from around Michigan voted for Sole, a revolutionary socialist and founding member of MECAWI.

This significant development originated several months ago when MECAWI activists approached the Green Party of Detroit about utilizing the party’s ballot status to push forward a statewide campaign for the mid-term elections against U.S. wars at home and abroad. A unique alliance with the Greens was forged.

Sylvia Innwood, a leader of the Detroit Greens and the Green Party of Michigan, spoke on the importance of the alliance with the Stop the War Slate in her keynote address to the party’s convention. Inn wood also officially nominated Sole as U.S. Senate candidate.

Candidates who support the full Stop the War Slate program were invited to join. The five-part program is:

Stop the Pentagon’s Wars: Immediate and unconditional U.S. withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan. Bring the troops home NOW. U.S. hands off Iran, North Korea, Venezuela and Cuba. End the U.S.-financed occupation of Palestine. Stop domes tic spying and restrictions on basic rights.

Stop the War on People of Color, Women, and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender People: Restore and defend affirmative action. End police brutality and racist profiling. Stop racist anti-immigrant attacks. Defend reproductive rights for women—Stop the rollback of Roe vs. Wade. End attacks on lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people—full civil rights and benefits now.

Stop the War on Working People (inclu ding unemployed, disabled and low-income people): Free national health care for all. Stop price gouging by pharmaceutical companies. Free prescription drugs for seniors and low-income people, inclu d ing contraceptives. Quality and affordable childcare. Affordable water, gas and electric rates—no shut-offs. Increased and equal funding for quality education in all school districts. Give youth jobs and recreation programs, not jails. No union-busting. No strikebreakers. Stop plant closings and mass layoffs—a job is a right. No bankruptcy by corporations to destroy pensions, health benefits and contracts. Guaranteed jobs for all who are able to work. End homelessness with construction of low-income housing. Raise the minimum wage to at least $15.

Stop the War on Immigrants: No human being is “illegal.” End the harassment, deportation and exploitation of immigrant labor. Amnesty and citizenship rights for all immigrants—not criminalization. No fences at borders.

Stop the War on the Environment: Stop corporate pollution of the environment. Immediate clean up of urban and rural dump sites. A statewide plan for a mass transit program that will substantially curtail the use of gasoline and diesel fuel.

Turn the election into a protest

According to literature distributed at the Green Party convention on Aug. 5, “the Stop the War Slate hopes to make this mid-term election a protest against Washing ton’s war drive and especially the U.S. wars on Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon and Afghani stan. On Aug. 4, MECAWI organized an important protest in downtown Detroit against the U.S.-Israeli terror being unleashed on Lebanon and Palestine.”

As the lead candidate of the Stop the War Slate on the Green Party ticket, U.S. Senate candidate David Sole, a long-time member of Workers World Party, is already well-known to the anti-war movement throughout Michigan.

The Slate brochure described the impact of the anti-war organization Sole helped found. “Through its persistent anti-war organizing, MECAWI has forged ties with anti-war activists throughout Michi gan—in the Upper Peninsula, Traverse City, Ann Arbor, Lansing, Saginaw, Grand Rapids and other cities and towns. It has been in the forefront of exposing how the billions of dollars spent on the Pentagon are robbing poor and working people here at home. MECAWI organized the National Conference to Reclaim Our Cities last fall in Detroit, which drew national attention for linking the fight against the war with the struggle against poverty, homelessness and cutbacks.”

Sole’s campaign brochure noted, “While the majority of the people oppose the wars, the Republicans and Democrats are united in their support. In recent votes, all but a handful of representatives expres sed support for the continued military occupation of Iraq and the U.S.-sponsored Israeli terror against Lebanon and Palestine. Debbie Stabenow, the Michigan Democratic senator and candidate for reelection, voted for war in each and every instance.

“Around the country, anti-war activists are beginning to make their voices heard in the electoral process by challenging traditional pro-war candidates. Witness how Senator Lieberman, a notorious hawk and big-business lackey, is having trouble even winning his own party’s nomination. With an aggressive Michigan Green Party anti-war election campaign, there is the potential for this election to be a turning point for many who are ready to break with the ‘lesser of two evils’ voting pattern.”

Other Stop the War Slate candidates who were nominated along with Sole are Kevin Carey for State Board of Education, Michigan State University second-year stu dent Lauren Elizabeth Spencer for Michigan State University Board of Trustees, Wayne State University student Michael Merriweather for Wayne State University Board of Governors, and Lloyd Clarke for State Senate from the 32nd District, which includes Saginaw.

At the tri-county nominating caucus of the Greens held in Detroit on July 15, Stop the War Slate member Kristen Hamel was nominated as candidate for State Repre sentative from the 1st District in Detroit, as was Kyle McBee for State Senate from the 13th District in Oakland County.

All the Stop the War candidates on the Green Party ticket are anti-war activists with a collective history spanning many decades in every progressive struggle. They hope to conduct a vigorous campaign throughout Michigan that will directly link the many hardships facing people in the state with the Pentagon budget and wars on working and oppressed peoples around the world.