{"id":132243,"date":"2014-07-21T18:38:18","date_gmt":"2014-07-21T18:38:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/?p=132243"},"modified":"2014-07-21T19:03:26","modified_gmt":"2014-07-21T19:03:26","slug":"opposition-grows-detroit-water-shutoffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/latest-news\/opposition-grows-detroit-water-shutoffs\/","title":{"rendered":"Opposition grows to Detroit water shutoffs"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe are not living in a democratic society\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

The shut off of water to tens of thousands of Detroit residents has provoked widespread anger and opposition throughout the city and beyond.<\/p>\n

As part of a broader corporate-imposed bankruptcy restructuring, the city government, headed by Emergency Manager Kevyn Or, has initiated a policy of cutting water to Detroit residents, some of whom are behind in bills by as little as $150.<\/p>\n

The contempt of those in power for people struggling to make ends meet was captured in\u00a0comments<\/a>\u00a0made earlier this week by Orr himself, who called the majority of those who were being cut off \u201cdrug addicts, illegal squatters, scofflaws and the people gaming the system.\u201d<\/p>\n

The cruel policy has become the focus of broader anger over social inequality in what was once the manufacturing center of America. \u201cI think the water shut-off policy says there are certain people in our society we don\u2019t value, and it\u2019s okay for them to not be valued,\u201d said Anthony Lee, an artist visiting Eastern Market over the weekend. Lee agreed that clean water, like other resources required for life in modern society, is a basic social right that must be guaranteed for all.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe water shut-offs are illegal,\u201d said Camille, who said she was in danger of being eliminated from receiving water herself. \u201cIt\u2019s not just the cost of water, it\u2019s sewage too. For every $100 in water bills I get, I have to pay nearly three times that for sewage. It\u2019s like you say, these days it\u2019s all about money, for things that should be free in a society like ours.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lakisha, a single-mother, said she had been affected personally by the policy. \u201cI had paid the bill for the month, but my landlord had failed to make the payment to the water department,\u201d she said. Lakisha, who shares a flat with her daughter, explained that though the bill had gotten paid the very day that the water was shut off, it took nearly half a week to get it turned back on. \u201cWater is a human right,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Anthony Parks, an engineering student, said that the shutoffs were \u201cextremely screwed up, there should be alternative ways of dealing with this. Instead, the Detroit Water Board and the politicians in charge of the city are only concerned about money and power.<\/p>\n

\u201cRather than cutting people off who can\u2019t pay,\u201d Anthony added, \u201cit\u2019s important to ask why half the city is in such a position that they are unable to afford water.\u201d He drew connections to devastated social conditions in Detroit. \u201cWe have the lowest income in the country, but the highest water bills.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anthony compared the living conditions faced by workers in America to the rhetoric and foreign policy of its leaders. \u201cThe US is always condemning other countries for human rights violations, but can\u2019t even take care of its own [people]. We claim to be champions of freedom and democracy, when we allow things like this to happen to our own population.\u201d<\/p>\n

Julie Fournier, a Detroit resident, was outraged by the shutoffs, \u201cWe are not living in a democratic society. Water is a basic human need, if you don\u2019t have any, you can die within days. The US claims to uphold the Geneva Convention and does\u00a0this<\/em>\u00a0to its own people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Julie added: \u201c[Thomas] Jefferson said that every 20 years there needs to be a revolution. When people don\u2019t have access to water and their needs are not being met, everyone running things should be fired.\u201d<\/p>\n

This piece<\/a> was reprinted by RINF Independent News<\/a> with permission or license.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe are not living in a democratic society\u201d The shut off of water to tens of thousands of Detroit residents has provoked widespread anger and opposition throughout the city and beyond. As part of a broader corporate-imposed bankruptcy restructuring, the city government, headed by Emergency Manager Kevyn Or, has initiated a policy of cutting water […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":132244,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[487,21,18],"tags":[661],"class_list":{"0":"post-132243","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-breaking-news","8":"category-human-rights","9":"category-latest-news","10":"tag-water"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132243\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}