May 10

Socialist VP candidate to visit Michigan

Posted on by

Mary-Alice Herbert, the vice-presidential candidate of the Socialist Party, will be in Michigan in the middle of May.

Herbert will be beginning a Midwestern swing that will take her to Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin.

During her time in the state, Herbert will visit Detroit, Lansing and Flint, speaking with working people and presenting the democratic socialist alternative.

Herbert will attend the May 13 pre-trial hearing in Lansing for Ben Burgis, Socialist candidate for Mich. State University Board of Trustees, who has been charged in connection with an antiwar demonstration that took place on March 1.

Two days later, on May 15, Herbert will be attending the monthly meeting of the Socialist Party of Michigan and making appearances with Socialist candidates running for local and statewide office. The meeting is scheduled to take place at Good Beans Cafe at 328 N Grand Traverse St. in Flint, Michigan at 2:00 PM. A candidates forum will follow at 5:00 PM for an hour.

Herbert was nominated to be the Socialist candidate for vice president at the Party’s national convention in October 2003.

Her running mate is Walt Brown, a former Oregon state senator and attorney.

For more information about Herbert’s campaign: [link]

For more information about Socialist campaigns in Michigan: [link]

To schedule an interview with Herbert or other Socialist candidates in Michigan e-mail mscc @ mi-socialists.org.

May 05

Socialists explore legal action after being called 'threat' by Ford Field security

Posted on by

Yesterday, Lisa Weltman, Socialist candidate for Michigan Board of Education, stated her intention to pursue legal options related to an incident at Ford Field.

Weltman, along with Socialist candidate for Michigan State University Board of Trustees Ben Burgis and two other members of the Socialist Party, had been at the stadium on May 1 petitioning and distributing campaign literature during the annual Enrollment Day for the Detroit Public Schools.

While Weltman was talking parents about the current budget crisis and how it could be resolved if certain tax breaks were repealed, she and the other Socialists present were informed by Jennifer Joubert, Chief of Community and Public Affairs for DPS, that they were not allowed to distribute campaign literature and had to leave the premises.

As they were leaving, Weltman and her companions were accosted by a supervisor of Ford Field security who identified himself only as “Mr. Smith.” Smith called them a “threat to the Detroit Public Schools” and told them that if they did not “cooperate” they would be reported to the Dept. of Homeland Security in Washington, D.C.

This incident took place in front of several witnesses.

“All we were doing was talking to parents about was how all of these budget cuts and layoffs in the Detroit Public Schools could be avoided,” said Weltman. “And for that, the Detroit School Board and Ford Field declared us a ‘threat’.”

“What kind of a threat were we? Apparently, not much of one, since they allowed us to go back [inside Ford Field] to find one of our companions,” said Weltman, responding directly to the charge. “They just insisted that we leave our flyers outside.”

Martin Schreader, Chairperson of the Michigan Socialist Campaign Committee and Weltman’s campaign manager, called the incident “inexcusable” and vowed to support her pursuit of legal recourse.

“To call a political candidate a ‘threat’ to anything is a telling sign of exactly what kind of democratic norms the Detroit School Board and the Ford family support,” said Schreader. “It speaks volumes about the kind of schools and businesses these people are administering.”

Schreader said that the MSCC and Weltman’s campaign committee have already contacted legal counsel about steps to take in relation to this incident.

Contact: Martin Schreader, Michigan Socialist Campaign Committee
(313) 535-4234 — LAN_EMAIL_SUBS

Mar 20

Socialist Party rallies at the Capitol against the continued occupation of Iraq

Posted on by

The Socialist Party of Michigan joined hundreds of antiwar demonstrators in Lansing, MI on the one year anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

The SPMI held a banner saying “Regime Change Begins at Home” and setup a table to collect signatures for ballot access.

As quoted in the Socialist Party USA Statement on Iraq:

Eugene V. Debs once said that he was “opposed to every war but one; I am for that war with heart and soul, and that is the world-wide war of social revolution.” In that spirit, we re-assert our continuing commitment to opposing Washington’s colonial war of “regime change” in Iraq, and we also re-assert our continuing commitment to the goal of real “regime change” from below in Washington and everywhere else.

Read The State News article for its reference to the SPMI.

Mar 01

The Crisis in Haiti

Posted on by

Monday, March 01, 2004

The Socialist Party of Michigan condemns in the strongest way the Bush Administration’s collaboration with right-wing death squads to carry out ‘regime change’ against the popularly elected government of Haiti. We call upon all working-class, left and progressive organizations to join with us in protesting against Bush’s decision to send the Marines to Haiti and in demanding that all American troops stationed outside of U.S. borders be brought home alive without delay.