From the Editors, People's Tribune
...corporate power moved swiftly and decisively
to destroy democracy in Benton Harbor
A rose by any other name smells just as sweet. The coup that overthrew democracy in Benton Harbor, Michigan and established a dictatorship called Emergency Financial Management is fascism - no matter what they call it.
Corporate power has declared war on us. The laws of military war and political war are the same. One of these laws is to never attack the enemy where they are strong -- attack where they are weak. The weak points in the defense of American democracy has always revolved around the African Americans. When President Reagan decided to attack the social safety net of all impoverished Americans, he concentrated his fire on the "Welfare Queen" in the Black ghetto. The majority of Americans stood passive while laws were passed lowering living standards. When the rest of the Americans realized these laws also applied to them -- it was too late.
When the Public Sector Unions came under attack in Wisconsin, it created a fire-storm as it should have. Labor unions and progressives rallied to defend the unions of the public service workers. The American Left is rooted in and responds to the economic struggles of the unions. Meanwhile, corporate power moved swiftly and decisively to destroy democracy in Benton Harbor - a poor Black community that few care about. They thus set the stage to destroy democracy in all of Michigan and then throughout the United States.
Again, fascism has struck at the weak point - where the struggle for democracy meets the reality of Black America. The future of our country is in the political -- not the economic arena. Fascism is a political, not an economic order. To win this war we must first disarm the enemy of this historic weapon of race - and fight for the political as well as economic rights of all Americans. The corporate takeover of Benton Harbor proves again that if we - the people - do not take over the corporations - they will take over us.
http://www.peoplestribune.org/PT.2011.05/PT.2011.05.12.shtml
