Activists from bankrupt Puerto Rico and elsewhere in the U.S. will convene in Detroit this Saturday as part of an event to map a strategy for "defeating the war being waged by the banks, corporations, and government against the workers and oppressed."
The National Conference to Defeat Austerity will cover topics that include school closings, mass transit cuts, water shutoffs, gentrification, and the destruction of public service unions.
"Detroit along with colonized Puerto Rico has been at the epicenter of bank-imposed austerity against the workers and oppressed in this hemisphere," a release for the event says. "We will hammer out a program on how to fight back against the war by the corporations, the banks, and their lackeys in government."
The day of workshops will kick off with an introduction to austerity that will show how Detroiters' lives have been jeopardized by powerful banking and finance institutions. Talks on things like foreclosures, water shutoffs, and food justice will follow. A labor organizer from North Carolina will go over the recent successful teachers strike in West Virginia and what can be learned from it. The former president of the Electrical Industry and Irrigation Workers Union of Puerto Rico, Ricardo Santos Ramos, is the featured speaker. His presentation will go over the role of the financial oversight body put in place by the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA), the imposition of massive debt service, and moves to privatize public institutions in the U.S. Territory.
The National Conference to Defeat Austerity will be held Saturday, March 24 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Historic St. Matthews-St. Joseph’s Church on Woodward Avenue in Detroit. More information and full schedule are available on Facebook.
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