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A few thousand activists, labor representatives, community organizers, politics buffs, bloggers, scholars and students Thursday began attending Cobo Center discussions on topics such as "Fighting for Democratic Practices" and "The 1% Courts."
They're attending Netroots Nation, an annual summer event -- part teach-in, part pep rally and part group hug-- that runs through Sunday morning. Vice President Joe Biden helped kick things off late Thursday afternoon.
In a timely bit of "Freedom Friday" street theater, participants will march from Cobo to nearby Hart Plaza for a 1:45 p.m. rally against Detroit water shutoffs for unpaid bills and for a Wall Street trading tax proposal pushed by Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn. The rally coincides with the one-year anniversary of Detroit's bankruptcy filing.
We'll compile daily glimpses of #NN14 gleaned from social media, emailed announcements and news coverage.
What decade is this?
Talk about Throwback Thursday -- perhaps the only 1960s touchstones missing from a posting about Friday afternoon's rally are suggestions to chant "power to the people" or "hell no, we won't go."
Protesters rally last Thursday in Detroit.
A group called Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures, Evictions and Utility Shutoffs can't be accused of language restraint. Consider:
We call on activists everywhere to come to Detroit on Friday, July 18 for a rally and march to fight the dictatorship of Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr, appointed by millionaire Republican Governor Rick Synder, and backed by Wall Street bankers and the 1%. . . .
Banks, billionaires and corporations made this bankruptcy up to rob the people of Detroit blind and kill democracy. . . . The banks, who have destroyed Detroit’s neighborhoods through racist predatory subprime mortgages and saddled the City of Detroit with fraudulent subprime financing, continue to loot the people of Detroit. . . .
We are not going to take this anymore! United we can stop the takeover of our Detroit! Make the banks pay!
For some reason, the phrase "right on!" comes to mind. Because nostalgia.
Riddle: 'Wannabe activists'
Though The Michigan Citizen weekly newspaper says it "targets the state’s African American and progressive minded community," nest-poking columnist Sam Riddle isn't feeling love for the progressives huddling in Cobo.
"In a political twerk of sorts, some 3,000 wannabe progressive Democratic Party 'activists' including Vice President Joe Biden . . . will be in Detroit this weekend.," he posts.
Process that. Democratic Party progressives: somewhat of an oxymoron. This Netroots crowd is just another outreach program of the Democratic National Committee purveyors of the status quo.
I say that after the national Dems have all but looked the other way as Detroit has been subjected to the union-busting democracy-destroying antics of Republican presidential hopeful Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and his Negro proxy emergency manager as they attempt to ride the Detroit bankruptcy to the White House.
Drinking and dancing
As at any national conference, even (especially?) those for librarians and morticians, long days of #NN14 workshops, panels and speakers are followed by nightly carousing.
The opening day features four official after-parties at St. Andrew's Hall (karaoke), Jacoby's ("end climate change denial"), the Anchor Bar and an Eastern Market loft that's the music studio of Grammy-winning pianist Luis Resto. That two-hour dance party is hosted by the three-month-old Latino Victory Project, a "nonpartisan effort to build political power within the Latino community."
Help a housekeeper out
Netroots Nation has elements of any business convention or trade conference, such as vendor booths, hospitality suites, receptions and credentials dangling from necks.
In other ways, there's no mistaking it for a gathering of auto dealers or Microbiologists. Consider this heads-up from Desiree Kane of the national staff:
All of our hotels are union properties. Let’s all live our values and support the working class.
The workers who clean your room each day have a rigorous and often thankless job. You can show your appreciation and support working families in a big way by tipping $3-$5 per day (more if you decline service until the end of your stay).
Tweet from Daily Kos staffer
So while bloggers are here for Netroots Nation, Detroit is hosting the American Sci-Fi Convention. If you are a nerd, this is heaven. #nn14
— paulhogarth (@paulhogarth) July 16, 2014
