Participant’s report on the Jan. 30 rally in far Northwest Detroit to demand ICE out of the city.
Detroit
Detroit high school students protest ICE
February 5, 2026Report of a student walk out in Detroit at Cass Technical High School for a rally and march to demanding ICE out of Detroit.
No Kings Day 2
October 26, 2025A roundup of participant reports: an estimated 7 million rallied for No Kings Day 2 in 2,700 locations on Oct. 18, 2025. The joy of collective revolt mixed with oppressive awareness of the paramilitary occupation of cities like Chicago. But hardly a day goes by without new episodes of self-organized resistance.
đ Eyes on Education: Back to school
October 5, 2025A view of the educational situation in several states of the U.S., from budget cuts and ideological repression to language discrimination and the introduction of AI in classrooms.
In-person report: The Peopleâs Conference for Palestine
September 28, 2025The second annual People’s Conference for Palestine brought 4,500 Palestinian and U.S. student-activists and their allies together in Detroit, focused on the urgent need to stop Israelâs genocide in Palestine and to end the suffering in Gaza and the West Bank.
Review: ‘Plundered: How Racist Policies Undermine Black Homeownership in America’
August 22, 2025‘Plundered,’ a study of housing in Detroit, reveals widespread predatory governance: local governments raise public dollars through racist policies. Its author spearheads a dozen community groups that assist individuals to regain their property.
Detroiters demand an end to genocide in Gaza
August 8, 2025Participant report of the Coalition Against Genocideâs protest in Detroit on Aug. 2: “We are determined to stop the Israeli governmentâs ongoing siege and murder of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.” said the author.
The âResistanceâ speaks: âNo to Trumpâ
June 24, 2025Reports from participants in the June 14, 2025, “No Kings” demonstrations across the nation. Thousands took to the streets, plazas and sidewalks, not only in every state and every significant sized city, but in tiny towns and suburbs. No one wanted to miss the opportunity to oppose Trump’s cruel, inhuman, destructive policies.
Hands Off march in Detroit
April 8, 2025Participants’ report of a Hands Off march in Detroit, where thousands converged at the Detroit Institute of Arts. It was one of over 1,200 that took place on April 5 in the U.S.
Demonstration to “Release Mahmoud Khalil Now”
March 22, 2025A demonstration in Detroit, Mich. to “Release Mahmoud Khalil Now,” made up of many students and organizations. They also demanded: Trump stop attacks on Free Speech and student deportations.
Detroit immigration raids and resistance
February 11, 2025Susan van Gelder presents a mix of reports, information, commentary and dialogue about the ICE raids against immigrants in Southwest Detroit, as well as the actions to resist it.
Detroit braces for Trumpâs ICE invasion
February 4, 2025Rumors about ICE are spreading in Southwest Detroit. In a school, student absences are already elevated. Meanwhile communities are gathering resources and planning activities. The sooner we gather, more people can be helped.
Resistance grows to library book bans
September 30, 2024Far-right campaigns aim to ban sex and LGBTQ+ themed books from childrenâs and teenâs sections in public and school libraries. Nevertheless, resistance finds multiple paths to defend the freedom to read.
Detroit Dispatch #11
July 23, 2024Retired women in Detroit speak for themselves about Project 2025, whose authors are connected to Trump.
Palestinians and Jews look for solutions together
November 23, 2023Susan Van Gelder reports on two meetings in Michigan supporting both Jewish and Palestinian people affected by the Israel-Hamas war in the West Bank.
In Memoriam Dan Bremer
November 14, 2023Dan Bremer passed away in October. We remember his kindness, his profound grasp of world and local politics, and his steadfast commitment to a more humane world based on the Marxist-Humanist philosophy of human liberation.
Blue Cross workers demand end to outsourcing jobs
October 10, 2023Blue Cross workers walked out two days before the UAW began calling auto workers off their jobs on Sept. 14. âWe have the same demands as they do,â one worker told News & Letters.Â
Editorial: Auto workers strike the Big Three
September 30, 2023Sept. 14 was Day 1 of the United Auto Workersâ Union strike against all Big Three automobile manufacturers. We are at a crossroads, where either the working class will push back the capitalist offensive with their own counteroffensive, or the capitalist class will keep taking more and more for themselves.
Palestinians silenced
June 9, 2023Early this spring, Palestinian-American attorney and activist Huwaida Arraf was invited to speak at Bloomfield Hills Senior High School. The debate among Jewish, Arab and Muslim community members over whether her talk was anti-Semitic and anti-Israel continues to intensify.
DTE payment strike
June 5, 2023âYouâve heard of a POWER OUTAGEâwe are calling for a PAYMENT OUTAGE.â A flyer circulated by Detroit activists responds to the one-two punch of more frequent and longer-lasting widespread power outages AND an 8% rate increase request by DTE Energy, the gas and electric supplier for Detroit and the surrounding suburbs.
Detroiters Protest DTE Energy
May 12, 2023âYouâve heard of a POWER OUTAGEâwe are calling for a PAYMENT OUTAGE.â A flyer circulated by Detroit activists responds to more frequent and longer-lasting widespread power outages AND an eight percent rate increase request by DTE Energy (the gas and electric supplier for Detroit and the surrounding suburbs).
Stop tax handouts to Detroit developers
March 21, 2023On Feb. 14, 2023, a small but vigorous demonstration in front of Cass Technical High School called by the Detroit People’s Platform protested tax increment financing (TIF) for downtown development projects, which flourish while tax-funded public libraries and schools struggle to make ends meet.
Detroiters demand: âStop Cop City!â
Dozens of protesters marched in downtown Detroit chanting: âStop Cop City!â They opposed the expansion of Camp Grayling to more than double its current police training grounds.
Police murder of Tyre Nichols puts U.S. civilization on trial yet again
March 16, 2023The murder of Tyre Nichols by Memphis police reveals the racism permeating police departments and sparked protests across the U.S. calling into question the system in which the violence is rooted. The police murder of tree-sitter Tortuguita in Atlanta showed how deep the rot is and the uprooting needs to become.
Readers’ Views: January-February 2023, Part One
January 24, 2023Readersâ Views on: Womenâs Struggles for Freedom; Open Season on Lgbtq+ ; Healthcare Workers on Strike; Lois Curtis; Immigrant Solidarity Needed; Putin vs. Ukraine; U.S. Right vs. Ukraine; Water and Humanityâs Future
Michigan workers’ victory
December 16, 2022At last over 600,000 Michigan workers will receive increased minimum wages and earn paid sick leave, thanks to a court ruling this summer overturning a 2018 law the state legislature had quickly and cynically passed four years ago.
Readers’ Views: November-December 2022, Part One
November 11, 2022Readers’ Views on: Iran: Woman, Life, Freedom; Election Threats and Battles; Womenâs Marches and Enemies; Sexist Supreme Court; Ukrainians Fight for Freedom; Para-Transit Disservice; Mike Davis; Labor Struggles, from AmazonâŠto the Bank.
Votes that matter
November 8, 2022The election of 2020 gave a giant push for the Right to turn elections into weapons for abrogating rights and freedoms, especially those of women and minorities. It is a primrose path to outright fascism.
Editorial: Climate report: revolution or disaster
May 18, 2022The battle over the latest UN report on climate change laid bare the stark alternative between business as usual and the forces fighting for social transformation to stave off catastrophe. Protesting scientists called for “climate revolution.”
Canadian convoy fuels fascism, not freedom
February 11, 2022Despite 90% of Canadian truckers being vaccinated, organizers counted on a couple hundred semis to mask the fascist movements and money propelling this âfreedom convoy.â The mask came off quickly, as participants paraded Nazi and Confederate flags, and even TRUMP 2024 banners, while others desecrated national memorials.
Jeep pollutes Detroit
February 7, 2022Stellantis, formerly Fiat Chrysler before merging with Peugeot, practices environmental racism with increased emissions from the Mack plant in a Black Detroit neighborhood, which it “offsets” in a less polluted suburban area.
Readers’ Views: January-February 2022, Part One
February 5, 2022Readers’ Views on: Labor: Teachers Face Politician Bosses; Labor: Automation and the New Humanism; Socialism, Statism and Philosophy; Fake âRight to Lifeâ; Eviction Tsunami; Agribusiness vs. Planet; Afghanistan Exploited; Taiwan Faces China and U.S.; Desmond Tutu; With the Migrant Caravan; U.S. vs. Palestinians
Readers’ Views: November-December 2021, Part One
November 19, 2021Readers’ Views on Draft for Marxist-Humanist Perspectives 2021-2022; Labor shortage?; Workers as reason; Support El Milagro workers!; Detroit women’s march; Chapelle’s sexism; Afghans dead and buried; Betrayal of Haitians; and Which side are you on?
Readers’ Views: May-June 2021, part two
May 8, 2021Readers’ Views on: A Colombian View: What Is Socialism?; Trevor Wins!; Detroit School Fight; Suez Accident; What Prisoners Want; Voices From Behind Bars
Politics erases science
The City of Detroit COVID-19 vaccination accessibility is far superior to the surrounding suburbs, yet Detroitâs vaccination rate is only 28% compared to 40-50% in nearby suburbs. Why?
Stop illegal evictions!
Detroit Eviction Defense (DED) and Detroit Will Breathe/Black Lives Matter held a rally of over 100 people near Detroit Police Headquarters on April 10 to stop illegal evictions perpetrated by the police.
Reopening schools mirrors class divide
March 11, 2021The divide between âreopen schools NOWâ and âreopen schools SAFELY ASAPâ mirrors the class divide in U.S. education.
Ray Bazmore 1926-2020
January 31, 2021Raymond Bazmore, who died Nov. 4 at the age of 93 in Detroit, was active and engaged all his life in numerous social justice struggles.
Pandemic prompts rethinking education
The pandemic challenges assumptions about the purpose of schooling, creating an opportunity to address basic issues, including ways to help students reflect and build on what they have learned, in school or out, and to figure out how to allow those experiences to âcount.â
Black homes matter
January 30, 2021Report on “#Black Homes Matter” podcast with experts taking up how one in three Detroit families have lost their homes, often due to the fact that Detroit homes continued to be assessed as if no change in market value had occurred and that one of the highest property tax rates in the nation.
Pandemic changes education
January 14, 2021The pandemic challenges assumptions about the purpose of schooling, creating an opportunity to address basic issues, including ways to help students reflect and build on what they have learned, in school or out, and to figure out how to allow those experiences to âcount.â
Queer Notes: November-December 2020
November 28, 2020Thailandâs LGBTQ Pride Parade demanded resignation of Prime Minister and limitations on King; Black and Brown Trans, non-binary and gender nonconforming people on the South and West Sides of Chicago have a new mutual aid organization; Nigerian Queer rights activist Pamela Adieâs Lesbian love story film âIfeâ; and Trans Sistas of Color Project locked out of their venue for their awards brunch.
Detroit voters speak truth to power
November 26, 2020People in Detroit, Mich., involved in counting the vote of the 2020 presidential election speak for themselves of their pride in fighting Republican intimidation and their anger and determination to keep fighting against racism.
Detroit Dispatch #10: Concerns about the election
October 4, 2020Against bureaucratic hurdles, community leaders and activists in Detroit, Michigan are trying to encourage the vote for the November election, especially among young adults.
Detroit teachers vote safety strike
August 29, 2020The Detroit Federation of Teachers voted to authorize a safety strike, which means they will not teach face-to-face but are willing to work remotely. Most parents, students, and educators want to return to classroom learning, but COVID-19 forces everyone into choices unthinkable six months ago, choices that could mean life or death.
Cops protect fascists
August 28, 2020Police turned over the streets of Kalamazoo to an armed fascist militia, and only targeted counter-protesters.
Detroit police brutality and restraint
Reflections on police brutality and restraint give meaning to âDefund the Police.â
Detroit eviction fight
Protesters demand a continued moratorium on evictions. There is no way to discuss eviction without including a racist housing system, with landlords supported by police brutality.
Detroit dispatch #9: Children learning during the pandemic
July 25, 2020Educator Susan Van Gelder breaks down the difficulties and political realities of what happens to school children, teachers, and others trying to educate children during the crisis caused by the pandemic and Donald Trump’s and Betsy DeVos’ attempts to destroy public education.
Detroit dispatch # 8: Police brutality and restraint
Detroit resident Susan Van Gelder recounts a tense confrontation between Detroit citizens and police and quotes a Black resident about the need to defund the police and fund conflict resolution instead.