SA
^^^ CB: It's going splendidly. It is basically a center for coordinating demonstrations. The Detroit Occupiers have joined the local ongoing left activist campaigns. The first march was at Bank of America with Moratorium on Mortgage Foreclosures , a long standing local organization. There are regular demos against a recent cut in welfare benefits by the Tea Party dominated state legislature. Solidarity with Oakland yesterday, of course.
The police have been hands off and even friendly ( though unfortunately I see the first arrests were yesterday for protesting a visiting 1% CEO.) . So, Occupy Detroit's main problem has been some of the homeless people who cohabit the park, steal and harass the women. The Occupiers are a hardy group , though, and are dealing with it so well. They were feeding the homeless three meals a day and taking the abuse from the trouble makers/lumpen elements. The Occupiers are my heroines and heroes.
The Occupation reminds me of the Diag in Ann Arbor in the 60's /70's. However, minus a lot of the "hippie" experiments. The counter-cultural experiments have been carried out and trimmed down from the experiences of us in the older generation. The rational kernel of our stuff has been extracted by this new generation. These kids are geniuses ! The level of political consciousness is very high. I had a great conversation the other night with three young IWWers. Their level of understanding and knowledge of Marxism and history in historical materialist terms was inspiring, given their ages and their being Americans. I now have faith that this new generation will make "the revolution". Frankly , I'm proud of them. I know this struggle is creating some life long radicals. There is wide ranging support from adults who are not radicals or activists.
A vanguard has sprung up spontaneously given the national and international response to the Wall Street Occupation. With all due respect to Carrrol, there _is_ a coherent Left in America;or it has just cohered. It's level of consciousness of class issues and struggle is , again, inspiring to those of us who have been in the struggle for decades.
Engels said that the American working class is slow to move, but when it does, it take Seven League Boots ( giant) steps. The Occupations are giant steps. I say a working class/99% party has been founded.
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