MAY 15, 2026 EXPLOITATION Surrounded by robbers and thieves Most of us have keys to protect our homes and belongings. If you lose something, the first question you hear is “Did you have it locked up?” The implication is that if you did not then the loss is your fault. When my trike was stolen someone checked my “almost-lock” and undid it. At 211 E. Davis, where I live in Avalon housing, if you leave anything in the dryer it can disappear. Most of my towels, smart wool socks, big comforter blanket and more have been taken. What is the problem here? There is a bumper sticker that says, “Before the white man came there were no police or prisons, no unemployment, hunger or homelessness. The white man thought he could improve on that.” In capitalist culture we are surrounded by a climate of shortage, even when there is an oversupply. How can we still believe this is reality-based? The recent “Living with Treaties” conference at the University of Michigan explained how the treaty process was the main player in privatizing indigenous land. Privatization of public resources continues as the cult of wealth accumulation extends its reach into every nook and cranny. The investment class now talks of social security as an entitlement and how much better it would be if investors were in charge. Investors are the core of the ruling class and now practice neoliberal imperialism. Hedge funds and other techno-financial innovations show that financial capital is supreme over industrial capital and can thrive by destroying industrial capital. The working class elected Bill Clinton who then signed NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, which funneled investors to Mexico. In the global economy to maximize profits, China became the place of choice and jobs went from Mexico to China, joining the Apple I-phone VRA from last page board member and volunteer, Jacob Fallman, who is a lawyer for Sugar Law Center. Sugar Law’s work seeks to amplify the voices of low income workers and their communities. Jones: What made you get into civil rights law? Fallman: It always made sense to be a lawyer for the people. When deciding what I wanted to be when I grew up, I decided I wanted to be a lawyer. Civil rights lawyers, I looked up to in our society because they are fighters and they represent the people. Jones: What type of work do you do KEN PARKS Groundcover vendor No. 490 and others in a profit frenzy. So, you can say that bosses are thieves who will sell your job to the lowest bidder. “The Earth’s Greatest Enemy” is a great documentary on the U.S. military and the damage they cause. In it you meet the people of Okinawa, the main U.S. military base in Japan, who protest the poisoning of their community. Of course this poisoning is made possible by the thieves who channel unbelievable amounts of tax money to the corporate arms of the war machine. There is no way at this time to put a padlock on your income tax so it can prioritize people. There is a Move the Money coalition on this issue. It may look like the power of the corporate state is invincible but a closer look shows that our labor power is the foundation of society. Please do a critical reading of “Preparing For a General Strike" and “Winning a General Strike,” two of my many Groundcover News articles that help us face reality and choose the path of freedom. Earth Day 2026 had some good presentations on this theme. Ann Arbor Community Commons will continue many collaborations and extend it to Indivisible and the NO KINGS rallies. Change and impermanence are in full play. Take a breath and look where you can do something good. Small things count. I hope the Ann Arbor Coalition Against War restarts the Friday evening vigils by the post office at Sugar Law? Fallman: We seek to help in areas of unfair employment practices, inappropriate development deals, environmental harms, and a range of discriminatory corporate and government policies. I work in administrative law to make sure the government follows due process and respects people’s rights when it comes to people getting their unemployment benefits. Jones: What are your thoughts on the Supreme Court decision to strike down the Voting Rights Act and what do you think we as a nation can do to remedy and reverse this decision? Fallman: The decision is Picket line outside Ypsilanti Transit Center, in solidarity with theTransit Workers Union's ongoing bargaining with the AAATA, on May 1, International Workers' Day. Photo submitted. at Fifth Ave and Liberty soon. I will be there sooner or later. Come and greet Alan Haber with his sign “Abolish the Whole War System.” Bosses and war go hand in hand to steal natural resources and labor power. The vast destruction of the environment happens as wage slavery carries out the orders of the ruling class. We have yet to learn how to use our labor responsibly. Compliance culture cannot allow this. The Transit Workers Union (TWU) has been working without a contract for a month now. All of TheRide bus drivers and support staff are not allowed to go on strike by Federal law. Negotiations are stalled as management wants to cut maternity leave benefits and not give a cost of living wage increase. I lost my Gold Card which gives seniors free rides on the AAATA, and when I went to replace it, I discovered the picket line at the main office on Industrial. Please support the TWU. As we learn to take a natural breath and focus our awareness on reality we will discover new ways to live in solidarity with life itself. Let’s breathe together from earth to sky and live fearlessly. The etymology of the word “conspire” means breathe together. heartbreaking, but in a lot of ways it was not surprising that the court took this step with a 6-3 conservative majority that put the nail in the coffin in the process of reversing hard-fought gains won during the civil rights era. We won the rights we enjoy today, that are being attacked right now, by being out in the streets, and willing to fight for our rights. Not just that, but people need to be informed about things that are going on around them. The decision that recently happened in the Supreme Court is from a lack of paying attention and from the capitalist forces around us. If we are to win back our rights or win better rights that we should have The Conspiracy to Save Lives was my first political work in Detroit beginning in 1969. It was a defense committee for the Berrigan brother priests and others who poured their blood on draft board files. They were charged with conspiracy to destroy government property. Look around and listen to what speaks to you. Practice until we get it right! The Common Good is a group inspired by the work of Peter Block. Some 120 people, including me, gathered in Cincinnati May 4-6 to share and learn about connecting and building the world we want to live in with the courage to care about ourselves and others, beginning in local neighborhoods and understanding that the future is local. “Our future is local” is the slogan of Argus Farm Stop. Their popular coffee is locally processed and brewed. I meet some wonderful people there. By appearances, we’re surrounded by robbers and thieves. But if you look beyond appearances, we are surrounded by buddhas and bodhisattvas and every kind of holy being. We can learn to breathe together and move together. GROUNDCOVER NEWS 9 had long ago, we are going to need a big movement like those in the past, if not bigger, to put the powers that be in their place and assert people's power. Jones: There is a Michigan constitutional amendment Proposal 2 (setting up the Independent Redistricting Commission) that removed the power of redistricting from legislators in 2018 and gave it to a citizen commission — will that still be in place after the SCOTUS ruling? Fallman: Yes, that will still be in place for the foreseeable future and will continue to determine what legislative districts will look like here in Michigan. (See page 8 for more details.)
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