Detroit is at the epicenter of a social counterrevolution being carried out by the American ruling class and both of its political parties, aimed at turning the clock backwards more than a century and stripping workers of the most elementary necessities of life.
The events in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson have revealed the political forms that correspond to this social process. Police state methods of rule that have been built up for more than a decade under the rubric of the “war on terror” have been deployed to crush social unrest.
On August 9, police in Ferguson shot and killed Michael Brown, who was 18 years old and unarmed. It was an execution-style killing.
In response to an outpouring of popular anger, state and local officials, with the backing of the Obama administration, imposed conditions of virtual martial law in the town of 21,000 people. First Amendment rights were effectively suspended and a “state of emergency” declared, the National Guard was dispatched, and a militarized police force, armed with tanks and assault weapons used for warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan, tear gassed and arrested demonstrators involved in peaceful protests.