« Students Meet to Discuss Education and Community Issues | Capital Strikes, Capital Flight, and the Wholly Privatized City » |
National Politics Tue Apr 24 2012
Chicago Activist to Protest GE in Detroit
Chicago activists will depart the city tonight on their way to General Electric's annual shareholders meeting in Detroit. They will join thousands of other protesters from cities around the country in an attempt to question the company's terrible track record of an American corporation.
More than 150 Chicagoans will attend the protests as GE's tax dodging has cost the State of Illinois $200 million in revenue in 2010 alone, according the Stand Up! Chicago.
The organization also contends the money could be used to create nearly 4,000 jobs or help the state's budget crisis.
"While I've been struggling to find full employment, take care of my son and save my home from foreclosure, there's this multi-billion-dollar corporation that's actually paying less in taxes than I am," said Shani Smith in a news release. "That's why I'm getting on a bus late Tuesday. It's time GE got the message that enough is enough."
GE might be swarmed by nearly 3,000 protesters and a couple hundred proxy shareholders tomorrow. Activists want the company to pay its taxes, invest in American jobs, and stop its part in the ownership of our democracy by the global one percent.
Multiple actions are taking place in Detroit. For more coverage you can follow me on Twitter and read more at my site, The Political is Personal.