Six months ago, the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) announced that it would start shutting off services to households and businesses with delinquent accounts. We’ve written occasionally about what’s been happening between the DWSD and the people of Detroit, and we thought that we knew the background leading up to the shutoffs. However, we appear to […]
By now, everybody’s probably heard of how thousands of homes in Detroit who were behind on their water bills have had their water shut off. If you follow us, you’re probably more informed than most on the matter, as we’ve run three pieces recently on the DWSD and how the shutoffs are impacting Detroit residents. As […]
We’ve talked about the water crisis in Detroit before; first when a coalition of activists filed an appeal with the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Human Right to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation over the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD)’s cutting of water and sewer services to thousands of households, and again when a United Nations team […]
‘To poison all the children in an historic American city is no small feat’ By Sarah Lazare, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 1-7-2016 Calls for Michigan Governor Rick Snyder’s ouster—and arrest—are growing after internal emails showed that his high-level staffers were aware of lead poisoning in Flint’s public water supply six months before the […]
Last weekend, we ran a piece about the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD)’s cutting of water and sewer services to thousands of households, and how a coalition of activists were appealing to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Human Right to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation saying that the DWSD’s actions constituted a violation of basic […]
When I read about some group appealing to the United Nations to correct a human rights violation, my natural tendency is to think that it’s about something happening in some other country than the U.S. But, a story that appeared yesterday taught me once again not to make assumptions. On June 18, a coalition of activists […]
If the U.S. Supreme Court sides with the company behind the East Palestine disaster, workers and consumers could have less freedom to sue corporations. By Kenny Stancil. Published 2-17-2023 by Common Dreams Norfolk Southern—the railroad giant whose train derailed and caused a toxic chemical fire in a small Ohio town earlier this month—has asked the […]
If Norfolk Southern “can pay for lobbyists and politicians, they can pay to clean up the mess they made in our community,” said one local group. By Kenny Stancil Published 2-20-2023 by Common Dreams An investigation published Monday revealed that just weeks before a Norfolk Southern-owned train overloaded with hazardous materials derailed and caused a toxic chemical fire in […]
“My pain cannot amount to that of Yemenis under siege,” said one hunger striker. “I am starving, but I am not being starved. I am suffering, but I can choose to end that suffering.” By Jake Johnson, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 4-10-2021 A hunger strike launched by Detroit-based anti-war activists in protest of the Saudi-led blockade […]
“This report sheds a harsh and needed light on the ways police violence and systemic racism intersect with the climate crisis.” By Andrea Germanos, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 7-27-2020 The same industries fueling the climate crisis and disproportionately polluting Black and brown communities across the U.S are bankrolling police foundations, groups which can […]