DEARBORN, Mich.—The U.S.-Israeli war on Iran and the recent brutal attacks in Lebanon have been raging on as the everyday cost-of-living crisis continues to also ramp up here at home. As the Trump regime continues to send money and weapons to Israel at the behest of the war economy, the working class in Dearborn and Detroit is demanding an end to the war and a new economy built on peace and humanity.
This sentiment was strongly reflected at an emergency Anti-War Town Hall in Dearborn late Monday evening, organized by Layla Elabed, the lead organizer of the Uncommitted Movement from the 2024 elections, and featuring Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, Dearborn Mayor Abdullah H. Hammoud, and state Senate candidate Abbas Alawieh. They addressed Dearborn residents about the undemocratic policies of the Trump regime and what communities across Michigan can do to resist war profiteering from the ground up.
“So many folks across my district and our region are anti-war,” Congresswoman Tlaib told People’s World, speaking on why hosting this town hall was needed at a critical moment.
“People see how the U.S. is prioritizing weapons, bombs, ethnic cleansing, and war crimes, meanwhile, here at home, we see costs going up, and inaccessibility to healthcare. People are frustrated. They don’t want our country going into another endless war, nor money going to things they don’t support.”
Congresswoman Tlaib outlined how members of Congress who own half a million dollars in stock in companies like Lockheed Martin and Raytheon directly profit from the industry of war, and how this war profiteering influences them to vote “yes” on sending weaponry to support the bombings in Iran, Gaza, and Lebanon.
Both Congresswoman Tlaib and Mayor Hammoud emphasized that divesting from weapons manufacturing companies is not only a moral and economic duty—it is possible.
“We have passed resolutions time and time again condemning the wars and sales of bombs, but we’ve taken it a step further,” said Mayor Hammoud. “We might be the only city in Michigan that didn’t just pass a resolution about divesting from weapons manufacturers—we actually divested.”
During the question-and-answer portion of the town hall, a resident stepped up to the microphone and laid out the economic crises we are facing: “This war has always been about money; the petrodollar. We’re going to see inflation increase at a rate where we can no longer afford things that we used to.”
“The $39 trillion debt is 120% of our GDP. We have crossed a line, thanks to the disastrous bills Trump has passed to give money to the billionaire class. We are now at a stage where we will have a truly unpayable debt.”
Trump has recently requested $200 billion more from Congress to continue the illegal imperialist war on Iran. Congresswoman Tlaib laid out plainly what this funding could be used for instead:
- $11 billion per year can be used for universal school meals
- $9.6 billion per year can eradicate homelessness in the U.S.
- $19.6 billion can be used for universal pre-K for every child at 4 years old
- $10.5 billion can be used for 8 weeks of paid leave for new parents
- $79 billion can eliminate tuition and fees at public universities
- $10.9 billion per year can be used for tuition-free community college for every student
- $30 billion per year can be used for extending the ACA Tax Credits
Dearborn is home to one of the largest Arab-American populations in the United States. Over 50% of its residents are immigrants, mostly from war-torn countries whose crises are manufactured by U.S. imperialism, and whose people are astronomically displaced or annihilated.
Many residents at Monday’s town hall had families and homes recently destroyed by U.S.-manufactured bombs. The war in Iran and Lebanon impacts our neighbors directly, extending beyond the economic crises that have arisen since the fighting began.
Nabil Sater, an organizer active with Jewish Voice for Peace, shared his story with People’s World about how the U.S./Israel bombings in Lebanon were personal for him.
“My story is the story of hundreds of thousands, and millions of people,” Sater stated to People’s World. “Members of my family from my home village of Baalbek, Lebanon, were bombed, and several of them were killed. When Israel bombed Beirut, they hit my late sister’s building. We lost friends in that building.”
“America puts more value at the pump than the value on human lives,” Sater pointed out. “We’re at the point where we are losing our lives, our land, our culture. We are paying tax dollars here to kill our families back home.” He continued, “Hit them where it hurts the most; the pocketbook.”
“People have lost loved ones here and are impacted directly,” Congresswoman Tlaib told People’s World. “But we’re here to support them, even if the President doesn’t.”
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