August, 08 2016, 02:15pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Contact: Erik Shelley, 248-982-6326
MichiganPeoplesCampaign@yahoo.com
Ryan Bates, 248.787.6767, dasbates@gmail.com
Michigan Women Disrupt Donald Trump in Detroit
Protesters challenge candidate’s stance on sexual harassment, auto jobs
DETROIT
Donald Trump's campaign stop in Detroit was immediately derailed when more than a dozen women stood up and challenged Trump's claim that he would bring back manufacturing jobs.
"You want to close Michigan plants and out source our jobs!" shouted Jacquie Maxwell, a Grosse Pointe Woods auto worker, as she stood on her chair. "How are we supposed to raise our families without good jobs? Is that what you call winning?"
In an August 2015 interview in the Detroit News, Trump proposed his surprising plan to help the auto industry: close plants in Michigan and Ohio, and move plants to low-wage states. This slash-and-burn approach would cause whole communities who depend on auto jobs to collapse.
The Trump family has also drawn criticism for their comments on sexual harassment. Daughter Ivanka Trump said she would not "allow herself to be sexually harassed," while her brother, Eric, said women bring the harassment upon themselves. This point of view seems to run in the family with candidate Donald Trump offering the suggestion that women who are harassed simply find another job. None of this sat well with protesters at the rally.
"Why are you blaming the victims of sexual harassment?"said Detroit food server Sarah Messer. "Why shouldn't women be safe at our work? It's not our fault!"
In fact, Donald Trump has himself been accused of sexual harassment multiple times for years, according to the New York Times article, "Crossing the Line: How Donald Trump Behaved with Women in Private."
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The Michigan People's Campaign is a statewide organization that is building a movement to put people and the planet before profits, forge a more just and sustainable future, foster participatory democracy at every level, create an economy that works for the many and a society that dismantles racism while uplifting our common humanity.
Learn more about the Michigan People's Campaign at our website:www.michiganpeoplescampaign.org
People's Action builds the power of poor and working people, in rural, suburban, and urban areas to win change through issue campaigns and elections.
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U.S. President Joe Biden's administration on Thursday used the country's veto power at the United Nations Security Council to block Palestine's bid to become a full member of the U.N.
While 12 nations voted in favor of Palestinian membership and two abstained, the United States is one of five countries—along with China, France, Russia, and the United Kingdom—who have veto authority at the Security Council.
Since Israel launched what the International Court of Justice has said is a "plausibly" genocidal assault of the Gaza Strip in response to a Hamas-led October attack, the Biden administration has blocked three cease-fire resolutions at the Security Council. Under mounting global pressure, the U.S. finally abstained last month, allowing a cease-fire measure to pass.
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After the vote, U.N. Newsreported on remarks from Riyad Mansour, a U.N. permanent observer for the state of Palestine:
"We came to the Security Council today as an important historic moment, regionally and internationally, so that we could salvage what can be saved. We place you before a historic responsibility to establish the foundations of a just and comprehensive peace in our region."
Council members were given the opportunity "to revive the hope that has been lost among our people" and to translate their commitment towards a two-state solution into firm action "that cannot be maneuvered or retracted," and the majority of council members "have risen to the level of this historic moment, and they have stood on the side of justice and freedom and hope, in line with the ethical and humanitarian and legal principles that must govern our world and in line with simple logic."
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Columbia President Minouche Shafik informed the campus community on Thursday that she had authorized the police to clear the encampment.
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In response to pro-Palestinian demonstrations, Columbia in November suspended the campus chapters of Jewish Voice for Peace and Students for Justice in Palestine—an action that pushed the New York Civil Liberties Union and Palestine Legal to file a lawsuit on behalf of the students last month.
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U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), whose daughter, Isra Hirsi, was among the Barnard students who were suspended on Thursday for participating in the encampment protest, questioned Shafik about whether antisemitic protests have actually taken place at Columbia, prompting the president to say there have not.
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