Clearing the FOG on the Crisis of Democracy in Michigan with Claire McClinton, Rev. Ed Pinkney, Maureen Taylor and Tom Stephens

We take a look at the disturbing trends in Michigan. Emergency Financial Managers are being appointed by the governor to run cities and school boards, particularly in black majority communities, in a dictatorial fashion. As our guest Tom Stephens writes,”The Emergency Financial Manager regime imposed on Detroit is ‘an entirely new and unprecedented form of antidemocratic local government directly controlled by the corporate agents of ‘the 1%’ that is designed to steal everything: land, water, air, lives, and every right not associated with capital.” The first Emergency Financial Managers were appointed to run cities in 2000, but a significant change occurred in 2011 with the passage of Public Act 4, the Local Government and School District Fiscal Accountability Act. This state law gave EFM’s unprecedented power to “exercise any power or authority of any officer, employee, department, board, commission or other similar entity of the local government whether elected or appointed.” Our guests will discuss how the EFM’s are dismantling cities to pave the way for privatization and gentrification and what people in those cities are doing to fight back. For more information, visit www.ClearingtheFOGRadio.org.