An interview with Maureen Taylor, Detroit's grassroots City Council candidate http://www.lrna.org/league/PT/PT.2005.6/PT.2005.6.4.html By People's Tribune Staff Editor's note: The People's Tribune recently interviewed Maureen Taylor, who is a candidate for the Detroit City Council. Excerpts from the interview are below. People's Tribune: Why are you a candidate for City Council? How many city councilors are to be elected? Maureen Taylor: Detroit is in trouble, reeling from the epochal changes inherent in the economy moving away from industrial production to a hi-tech protocol. Machines for years used to aid and support the hands of laborers, but this new circumstance finds labor being replaced, resulting in millions of American workers and hundreds of thousands in Michigan being separated from lifetime jobs that fed their families. The fires of change are scorching Detroit, so revolutionaries run into the building carrying buckets of truth and understanding to save lives. I am a revolutionary, so my role is to step into the middle of this race pointing out why we are in the shape we are in. From the 149 residents who submitted signed petitions, the top 18 vote getters in the Aug. 2 primary will go on to vie to be the top nine vote getters in the Nov. 8 general election. Nine persons make up the Detroit City Council. PT: Detroit is known as the "Motor Capital" of the world, and Detroit was also known as a city with decent homes for workers. Is this still true? What is the economy looking like in Detroit? MT: Detroit is still known as the "Motor City," even though that term is largely ceremonial because other cities may manufacture more cars than what are made in Detroit, since technology has taken over many of the tasks once performed by Detroit workers. However, while there has not been any significant reduction here in the numbers of cars built, there has been a devastating reduction of hired workers who used to build these cars, now put together using advanced technological robots. Almost the same number of automobiles is being built by one tenth, or even less, of the workforce. This change has ushered in all levels of attacks against our standard of living. Michigan ties Alaska with the highest unemployment. In places like Flint, Saginaw, Taylor, River Rouge and Detroit, unemployment estimates are as high as 50 percent, and these might be conservative figures. The elimination of income maintenance programs that Detroit has always had access to, like General Assistance, was the opening shot signaling war against Detroit workers. Since then, every safety net program that at least kept our heads above water has had reductions so that many residents are under water, or in our case, without water! The Detroit economy is in shambles. PT: You are chairperson of Michigan Welfare Rights Organization (MWRO).What is the purpose of the MWRO? MT: I began serving as state chairperson of the MWRO shortly after our beloved Diane Bernard started to get sick some nine years ago. Diane was the rock of leadership, skilled and steeled in her commitment to see poverty end. She was unbiased and unbought, and her untimely, premature death on Easter in 1999 remains one of the turning points in my life. My focus was forever shaped and I have been a re-committed soldier to MWRO since that day. MWRO is the advocate union for disenfranchised persons who need conflict resolution and support. We are a non-violent organization that uses the courts, legislation and civil disobedience in the streets as organizing tools. PT: MWRO is part of a coalition of organizations in the Detroit metropolitan area that believe that "utilities is a human right." What were the conditions that gave rise to this belief and the formation of the coalition? MT: Between June 2001 and June 2002, the low-down, back-stabbing Detroit Water Dept. shut off water at 40,752 separate households‹in one year! Welfare Rights only found out about this Human Rights violation two years later, and quickly moved to form a coalition to fight water shut offs. Residents in Detroit, from the city of Highland Park, and from the city of Hamtramck met for weeks before forming the Highland Park Human Rights Coalition. This group has picketed, demonstrated, written letters and made phone calls, and has led the fight to expose the local terrorism involved with turning off water in our community. This fight is a national fight. Other residents across the country not yet affected are already rallying to understand the dynamic of efforts to privatize public resources, and are coming on-line in new formations like the Water Warriors, a national group that focuses on exposing attempts to privatize water anywhere in the world. Water Warriors are based in America, and I am a member! The next step in the coalition is to move the fight to make access to fresh drinking water non-negotiable! We are looking into legislative methods that make this the case, and will have to secure this next step with street demonstrations that will certainly lead to arrests and court cases before we are successful. PT: What is your platform for the City of Detroit once you are elected? MT: When we take this seat, we will engage several critical issues spelled out in the campaign literature: affordable and accessible water; affordable housing and utilities; lower resident taxes and restricted corporate tax abatements; economic opportunities for local residents; jobs and training for today's markets; community safety, which includes access to healthcare and prescriptions; and an end to rising Detroit hunger. These are the campaign points that we are seeking support for, which are issues not addressed by those in elected offices in Detroit. They resonate with all decent people. PT: What can People's Tribune readers do to help with the campaign to get you elected? MT: Our issues are the issues of regular working people and they represent the first steps in realizing WHY it is critical to elect candidates that speak to these needs. From this perch, we can do many things, including carry the message that organizing is the tool that can move us to the next stage. Our humble request to the People's Tribune is to print these responses and to add the following: to those religious and spiritual supporters who read and subscribe to this press, we need your prayers. To those with powerful names and recognized constituencies, we need your written endorsements. To the average mom and pop, to the students, to labor both organized and unorganized, to the grandparents and to the disabled who read and support this press, to prisoners both in and out of jail, to those struggling with chemical dependencies, to those who long for freedom, to those who ache for justice, and to those who see that this is a good fight and want to get in it, we need a dollar! Better yet, we need $100 from 100 people, $50 from 100 different people, and $20 from 3,000 people so that we can make this something really big. Make all donations to: Committee to Elect Maureen D. Taylor, P.O. Box 02008, Detroit, MI 48201, or look at: www.taylorforcouncil.org, or call 313-832-0618. "You Get What You Organize To Take!"
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