Abandoned Detroit

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of declaring it.

Detroit—with its abandoned build­ ings, weed-grown lots, and streets devoid of people and traffic—re­ minded me of Pripyat, in the Ukraine, the closest town to the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

In the 1930s, according to “Detropia”, Detroit was the fastest growing city in the country; but by 2010, it was the fast­ est “shrinking” city. With a population of almost 2 million in 1950, it is now down by half. Ewing and Grady included TV ads from that era, in which fashion mod­ els swan around shiny “dream cars” in chandeliered showrooms.

An archival propaganda clip depicts an unreal, thriving Detroit illustrating “The American Dream,” where Dad pulls up in his GM car, blond, tousled-haired kids skip home from school, and Mom in her apron waits at the front door. Huge Ca­ dillacs sail along wide, tree-lined boule­ vards, past thriving shops and car-deal­ erships, at a time when a large part of the population was Black and Hispanic.

Miners at South Africa’s Anglo American Platinum (Amplats), who are on strike for higher wages, have vowed to resist new measures to repress their struggle. In early October, two leaders of their branch of the Na­ tional Union of Mineworkers were killed. One of them was shot when police attacked an Oct. 4 miners’ dem­ onstration. The following day, Amplats fired the 12,000 miners on strike at its facilities. “This is the beginning of the war,” strike leader Gaddhafi Mododa told Agence Compared to what the city is like today, it’s hard to imagine how such a sicken­ ing, rapid ruin of a major American city could happen. Unfortunately, the film fails to explain it.

Research shows, however, that ele­ ments that triggered Detroit’s decline included the fact that Japan manufac­ tured smaller, precision-made, fuelefficient automobiles available to U.S. consumers for thousands of dollars less than American cars. In order to keep up with foreign competition and boost their profits, Detroit manufactur­ ers scrambled to further automate the assembly lines, costing thousands of jobs. And finally, the automakers laid off thousands more and shifted production to low-wage countries like Mexico and China.

In his Cadillac, a local official of the decimated United Auto Workers drives the filmmakers to the former site of the Cadillac plant, which once spanned miles. As the camera pans over weedchoked lots and abandoned buildings, he speaks of the impact its closure had on employees and their families who’d worked for GM for decades.

The owner of the Raven Lounge let his employees go due to lost revenue, but he won’t close. He invites Ewing and Grady inside and we see his club now as a meeting place for regulars to com­ miserate as they eat, drink, and listen to live music. He feels that the economy is coming back but adds that the govern­ ment won’t tell people that the coun­ try is in the same place it was during the 1930s Great Depression because “they’ll get scared.”

Attending a new car show featuring electric and solar-powered cars, the lounge owner notes that Americanof the South African mining industry, are out on strike. In early October, the strikes spread to Kumba Iron Ore, another unit of the giant Anglo American corporation. Meanwhile, 20,000 truckers stopped work in the Johan­ nesburg area, demanding higher wages.

Workers at Gold Fields’ KDC West mine have occupied planners it was suggested that the vacant land become farms. Though some scoffed, many residents did start vegetable gardens.

Driving the filmmakers along the Detroit River, the UAW official explains how the people’s spirit will save their city. It is quiet without traffic; you hear birds singing, leaves rustling in the trees. There are shots of derelict, weedgrown buildings that exude a certain dignity standing in the middle of empty lots.

The film doesn’t posit any solutions, yet spirits remain high, as illustrated by the Detroit Opera’s staging of a hi­ larious, updated version of “The Mika­ do,” rewritten to reflect the hardships wreaked on the city’s people by govern­ ment, financial institutions, and bureau­ cracy. “The middle class serves as a buffer between the rich and poor,” the Raven Lounge owner philosophizes. “Once the middle class is gone? What’s left? Revo­ lution!” n an outcrop of rock near their workplace (much like the Lonmin platinum miners did), vowing not to leave un­ til their demands were met. The company responded to the workers’ demands by evicting them from companysponsored hostel housing, but the miners have contin­ ued to fight for better wages and working conditions.

Socialist Action stands in solidarity with the workers of South Africa. The miners’ resilience and capacity for action in the face of repression from government offi­ cials and bosses alike has been truly inspiring. n