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Democratic Socialists of America Greater Detroit Local Democratic Socialists of America Greater Detroit Local January 2009 Detroit DSAers Celebrate at 10th Detroit DSA Succeeds in 2008 Electoral Annual Douglass-Debs Dinner Effort ver 125 DSA members, progressives, aving been rebuffed in our offers of and trade unionists gathered to cel- assistance to progressive Congressio- Oebrate our recent electoral success at Hnal candidates Gary Peters (9th dis- the 10th annual Frederick Douglass-Eugene V. trict) and Mark Schauer (7th district)—both of Debs Dinner. The dinner was held at historic whom were afraid of being red-baited--Detroit UAW Local 600 on Saturday, November 8th. DSA focused instead on local and state races. Local 600 was the home local of the partici- Our strategy was simple: Given our limited pants in the Hunger March of 1933 and is ad- resources and manpower, we concentrated on jacent to the Miller Road Overpass (site of the competitive races in which a progressive Dem- Battle of the Overpass in 1937 at which UAW ocrat was running for an open seat. In such a organizers were savagely beaten by Henry setting, the efforts of a small, but disciplined, Ford’s security personnel while attempting group such as ours might provide the margin of to distribute literature to workers at the Ford victory for the progressive Democrat. Further- Rouge Complex). The dinner is the sole fund- more, by helping to turn out the progressive raising event each year for Detroit DSA. vote in these state representative districts, we also helped to turn out the vote for Obama, and The co-chairs for this year’s Douglass-Debs to a certain extent, for Gary Peters. After in- Dinner were UAW Region 1A Director Rory terviewing candidates to make sure their views Gamble and International Union of Operating on labor issues, health care, the environment, Engineers Local 547 Business Manager Phillip living wage, and progressive taxation ran paral- Schloop. This year’s Douglass-Debs Award win- lel to ours, our membership voted to endorse ners were David and Judy Bonior and Judge four candidates for state representative: Sarah Claudia Morcom. The keynote speaker was Roberts (St. Clair Shores-Harrison Township), Continued on page 2 Continued on page 3 In This Issue... Detroit DSAers Celebrate at 10th Annual Pages 1–2 Douglass-Debs Dinner -David Moberg’s Keynote Address Pages 2-6 Detroit DSA Succeeds in 2008 Electoral Effort Pages 1, 7 Detroit DSA Celebrates Obama Victory Page 7 Human Rights Day Celebrations Page 8 Page 1 Calendar of Events and Next Meeting’s Agenda Page 9 Democratic Socialists of America Greater Detroit Local January 2009 “10th Annual Dinner,” continued from page 1 new Obama administration for bold progres- sive changes such as single-payer national In These Times senior editor David Moberg. health insurance, signifi cant public investment in infrastructure and green technology, fair David Bonior served in Congress for 26 years trade, progressive taxation, massive cuts in the rising through the leadership to become the military budget, ending the war in Iraq, and Democratic Caucus Whip. During his tenure in passing the Employee Free Choice Act. Congress, Bonior fought to raise the minimum wage, protect pensions, support unions, and David Moberg Keynote Address extend unemployment benefi ts. He led the fi ght to oppose NAFTA in 1993. He worked to pre- In These Times Senior editor David Moberg deliv- vent war in Central America in the 1980s and ered the following keynote address at the 2008 Fred- again to prevent the Iraq War in 2002. After erick Douglass-Eugene V. Debs Dinner held at UAW leaving Congress, Bonior co-founded American Local 600 in Dearborn on November 8, 2008. Rights at Work, a labor advocacy and research organization, which has made passage of the Thank you for the introduction, and thanks for Employee Free Choice Act its major legislative inviting me to share in this tribute to the distin- priority. Bonior was recently appointed to the guished work of your honorees, Judge Claudia Obama economic team. Morcom and David and Judy Bonior. They’re all worthy heirs to the tradition of Eugene V. Judy Bonior was the campus chair of the Stu- Debs and Frederick Douglass. dent Non-Violent Coordinating Committ ee (SNCC) at the University of Iowa in 1963. She It’s also a pleasure to share in yet another then went to Mississippi to work on behalf of celebration of the victory on Tuesday of Barack the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. She Obama. I can’t count the number of times this later became a Congressional staffer working week that I’ve heard people say, “Did you ever for such progressive legislators as Byron Dor- think it would happen?” Progressives have had gan and John Brademas before working for, too few reasons to celebrate breakthrough ac- and eventually marrying, David Bonior. complishments in recent years. So let’s whoop it up as long as possible. At least it helps numb Judge Claudia Morcom was the fi rst African the pain from the competing news of rising un- American woman to work in an integrated law employment and a collapsing auto industry. fi rm when she joined the fi rm of Goodman, Crockett, Eden, Robb, and Philo in the early Obama’s election is in its own way part of the 1960s. She was the Southern Regional Direc- Debs and Douglass tradition of American poli- tor of the National Lawyers Guild’s Committee tics--including the labor, civil rights and other for Legal Assistance from 1964-1965. In 1966, progressive movements, even if Obama--con- she became the Director of the Wayne County trary to conservative claims--is not a socialist. Neighborhood Legal Services Program for the It also refl ects both the achievement of a sin- indigent. She became a Wayne County Circuit gularly gifted and political leader and a change Court Judge in 1983. She served as a delegate in America, underscored by the big margin for to the United Nations Council on Human Obama among young people. Rights. David Moberg’s address continues on page 3 In their remarks at the dinner, both David Bon- ior and David Moberg stressed the importance of building social movements to pressure the Page 2 Democratic Socialists of America Greater Detroit Local January 2009 “David Moberg,” continued from page 2 I want to make three points. But like most sober-minded progressives, I First, contemporary conservatism has reached can’t let a moment of joy go by without point a dead end--on economic policy, foreign policy ing at some dark cloud in the sky over yonder. and politics. So I’m going to argue that we need to do two things at once--savor the moment and prepare Second, the solution to the crisis of the politics to make sure it brings lasting fruits. of the right requires a break with their underly- ing principles and enactment of a new progres- Because even though Obama won the long fi ght sive alternative, not just tinkering at the edges. for the presidency, a new battle is underway to defi ne what his victory means and what his ad- Third, Obama is not likely to win, or perhaps ministration will do. The moment is full of op- even push for, such an alternative without portunity for Obama to be one of this nation’s active support--and often pressure or even great presidents, transforming the landscape of friendly criticism--from a popular movement. people’s lives. I will just briefl y mention foreign policy and But both Republicans who opposed him and politics, before concentrating on the economic many Democrats have been fl ooding the pres- failure. ident-elect with advice that he must not be The Iraq war, most Americans now recognize, too ambitious, that he must govern from the was a colossal $3 trillion failure of dishonest center--whatever that shifting will o’ the wisp and neo-conservative foreign policy. Now at might be, that he must embrace Republicans least there’s momentum for U.S. withdrawal. and stand up to the liberals and left in the Obama needs to accelerate the pace in Iraq, Democratic party. but also to shift gears dramatically in Afghani- stan away from military escalation and toward Not surprisingly, I think that such advice is a more political strategy. The world anxiously wrong both as a matter of politics and policy. awaits not only a new face in the White House Obama needs to fi x a badly broken economic but also a non-imperial U.S. foreign policy. and political system, which nearly 90 percent of Americans see as headed in the wrong direc- The Republican politics of racial division and tion. And the best solutions require not only wedge issues also ran aground this time. The bold government action but also democratiza- southern strategy isn’t dead; it still seems to tion of the substance of government action, work in much of the South, but the votes in shifting the balance of power away from cor- states like North Carolina and Virginia are a porations and the wealthy to the majority of reminder the South is changing--just as the Co working people. lorado, New Mexico, and Nevada votes remind us of the growing importance of Latinos in con- Politically, Obama needs not to seek out a solidating a progressive majority. center but to redefi ne the center by moving the nation’s political spectrum towards the prag- Let me start the discussion of the failure of matic left, where most people now would be economic policy with a quotation from Alan with the kind of leadership Obama can provide.
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