What is the Detroit People's Movement Assembly Process

I recently went to an excellent discussion about the state of Detroit's education at the Boggs Center. Over and over again it was emphasized that education often (maybe even mostly) happens outside of the classroom. As one of the anchoring organizations of the 2010 United States Social Forum I learned this lessons. Especially during the People's Movement Assembly (PMA) Process. In April we will have a city wide PMA in Detroit to create an alternative vision for land use were we will put into practice this style of community learning.

So what is the PMA?

We are a collective of community members that come together around shared principles. We look to the principles of environmental justice, the earth charter and the human rights for guidance. We hold each other and ourselves accountable to those principles with love. We are making our best effort to solve the most significant problems of the day. And in doing so we will spend more time building than attacking. The Detroit People’s Movement Assembly is a grassroots approach and we believe that self-determination should be at the center of the PMA and at the city’s foundation.

Our concerns with the Detroit Works Plan: Corporations cannot dictate the role of Detroiters and certainly not without involving them in the planning and real democratic decision-making related to their city. In this PMA process we presume that people have power, and that we are not victims. Together we are learning that the strongest solutions happen throughout the process, not in a moment at the end of the process. Together we are learning that the most effective strategies for us are the ones that work in situations of scarce resources and intersecting systems of oppression because those solutions tend to be the most holistic and sustainable.

We have a vision. We want to build on existing strengths and Detroit’s rich history. We know that when we look at the data that the mayor’s office is putting out and we read in the Huffington Post that the “only people left in the D are those that have no other options” that is not our living reality. Because when we look at their plan and when we look at our community capital of freedom schools, black owned business, community schools, youth organizing, community kitchens in churches, music and historical neighborhoods build by the people and made unique by its residence and we see two completely different analyses of a city. We made each neighborhood that is the tapestry of the city - we know we are the city.

We understand pain. We know there is a place for mourning and anger of the people that are being displaced, had their utilities cut off, even lost their children because their water bill was too high. We need a place to grieve and express our frustration. We honor this pain, and we don’t want to live there.

We are not the first to go through struggle and we are not alone now as we struggle. People throughout history have had to fight, struggle and articulate a better vision for what they need for their community and their sustainability. All of us are working in our particular and unique way but we do want to reflect that the PMA is not new but has been building up for a few years before the first USSF held in Atlanta in 2007. We do not just meet. We are creating plans. We want to be the ones telling the story and making the media.

We have been building as social movements from bottom up styles from community visions and desire. The PMA is our responses to this – a space to build our own narrative, our own plan, our own media. Even now through the people’s movement assembly process, we are connected to a national movement and to an international movement. The PMA process is something that Detroiters learned during the second US Social Forum held in Detroit. Over 25,000 people came to the city in June of 2010 to learn from Detroit’s leadership and the models of resistance we have created and are creating in the city. We built as a community during the USSF and have trained with our national PMA partners on how to build movement and facilitate a city wide visioning process.

We are connecting to others in the city who also have a vision – like Detroiters for Dignity and Democracy, the People’s Water Board, People and Energy, the Food Justice Task Force and the Detroit Digital Justice Coalition (to name a few). We are lifting up the solutions that currently exist in the city, and we are a group that is finding solutions to the most critical issues facing our city. This is hard, hard work. We work hard but we need to take care of the tools, resources, love, passion and hurt that we all bring. We are learning to do this but it is not without its bumps and bruises.

We are sick of being asked if we “are a believer”, were we “imported from Detroit”, do we “Declare Detroit”?

We have a voice. We have a vision. We are connected.

Climate Justice - GGJ delegation to COP16

Dec 8th 2010

Wednesday we were credentialed to go into the “inside UN space” with governmental representatives. We were able to get our credentials through Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA). We spent most of the day in the NGO space and attended the official launch of the United States Strategy for REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) and how they are committed to “preventing deforestation” through such measures and carbon credits. They focused on the new programs and funding that will result. The technical presentation focused on the flagship program and projects the US is implementing, as well as planned investments and activities in forest carbon sequestration. Luckily the audience was stacked with Grassroots Global Justice, Indigenous Environmental Network and the Environmental Justice Leadership Forum. Questions were asked about the rollouts blatant disregard for indigenous rights and I got in the question:

“What are the specific safeguards for communities such as mine, Detroit Michigan, that are already overburdened by industrial toxins and will be impacted by REDD measures such as carbon credits. And what are the safeguards are there to protect the indigenous people use of their own land since the UN article 43 on the rights of indigenous people are nonbinding.”

The main message of our delegation is that the REDD+ proposal is bad for people in the community. From the “forest to the hood we are all united” that the most affected communities must be protected. Ahmina and I decided that we have to do a community debrief of our experience here and what we learned. We are thinking around Jan. 10^th as a good date and we’ll outreach to our EJ coalitions, PMA group and USSF Detroit group.

Ahmina spoke on a Sustainable Cities panel Thursday at 9am about the Detroit incinerator, our actions to shut it down as well as incinerator alternatives. She will write up her talk and add it to the Grassroots Global Justice (GGJ) Blog. All our reflections, pictures and film footage from us and all the GGJ delegates will go up on their website.

On Thursday afternoon we went to see Evo Morales speak, the Bolivian President. We were so fortunate and we sat in the international delegation section. He addressed La Via Campesina (international peasant movement)– the alternative climate forum that focused on how climate change is affecting farmers around the world. Obviously Food Security was a predominant theme is his talk. My two favorite Evo quotes from the speech were, “The UN is meeting on the moon (Moon palace was the name of the UN conference center for the governmental delegates) while we are here on earth coming up with the real solutions to climate justice” and “Climate Change is not a business venture!”

There was a very long dedication and ceremony by the Bolivian indigenous community before his talk and soon after Evo came on stage there was a huge double rainbow on each side of the stage. Everyone was crying and laughing and it was all extremely emotional. The folks in our IEN delegation were all saying that it is unbelievable to have a president saying the things he is saying. What an amazing time.

To check out photos, interviews and footage from marches check out the Redroadcancun.com.

Climate Justice - report from the Grassroots Global Justice delegation

December 6 2010 Ahmina Maxey and I safely made it through the espaco Mexico and via campisina marches today. It was a little sketchy because they changed guards from the state police to the policia federal at midnight last night and we were not sure how the marches would go.

Ahmina spoke at the rally at the end of the march about the affect of industry to the people and children in Detroit and LINK TV interviewed me after the march. I filmed Ahmina’s talk and we’ll post that and the interview on LINK as soon as it’s up. I’ll be working with the media team tonight and we will hopefully be posting both on the GGJ website.

The most exciting part of the experience for me has been working with Indigenous Environmental Network. Lottie would LOVE their mobile media (sometimes impromptu) labs and radio and web streaming stationing that they have set up inside the UN space and at the two spaces “outside” or the alternative forums.

Ahmina and I are getting accredited tonight or early tomorrow morning to go in and participate in the UN space. There are four main spaces. Moon palace (a conference center) is where the UN dignitaries (and where we're going tomorrow) are meeting, Via Campasina, Espaco Mexico and Clima Fora are all alternative climate forums. There are some politics around why there are 3 separate spaces are a little too complicated to get into right now – but our delegation has been focusing most on participating in getting into Moon palace and Via Campasina.

Working with all these great grassroots organizations around the world really makes me appreciate all you and I feel more and more confident that we are doing the work we need to be.

Well – last night was a REALLY late night preparing for the march so I’m going to bed now and we’ll give you another update soon.