Wisconsin governor threatens to use National Guard
Just saw this on Labourstart. Republican Wisconsin governor, Scott Walker, threatening to draft in National Guard to maintain state services in the event of any resistance to his plan. Does anyone close, or in, Wisconsin know what the mood is among the state workers? Uill they strike?
admin: thread title changed from "Wisconsin withdrawing collective bargaining rights from state workers. Governor threatens to use National Guard."
I guess the disruption was organized by Voces de la Frontera, an immigrants rights group whose executive director talked favorably about strike action months ago at a AFL-CIO group founding that some fellow travelers and IWWers interrupted. This is the press release.
and here is what people got up and yelled before being arrested or dragged out
Today's statement by the student group which yesterday was so quick to denounce these protests. I think between the flak that a number of their supporters gave them, and then Jeremy Ryan's (the director of 'Defending Wisconsin' a reformist PAC formed to work on the recalls) harsh treatment of the establishment twits who were so quick to condemn Voces de la Frontera's action, ASO realized that they made a strategic mistake. I think they showed their true colors.
Yeah - didn't SuperBill Clinton arselick his way up from fairly humble beginnings through the State edoocashun system to become one? Grate indeed (and inafterdinnerspeaking).....
What's hilarious is that the group was formed by students who were occupying the damn capitol building! It's not like a small disruption of a joint finance committee meeting is out of left field compared to that. I think though it has more to do with the fact that it pissed off Democrats. ASO does stray into electoral stuff, and like I said, its an eclectic group. There's some pretty solid people in there, but there's also people I spotted right away as future Democrat operatives. During the short-lived occupation at the university here, some of those people erased the group's name off a chalkboard with all the various organizations that were taking part in the occupation. There's folks that are very paranoid about being associated with any action that is out of the norm or could be controversial.
There's also a general sentiment from liberals that we shouldn't do anything that might mess up the recall efforts.
It's going to be interesting to see what happens in the coming days and weeks with this. While the recall tactic has reached near dominance, there are still a number of active people in the coalition groups who are annoyed at its dominance. Some of these folks were against all the concessions from the start and some of them were pro-general strike. It seems as if the demobilization and the dominance of the recall disorientated them for a while, but now they're regrouping and willing to do stuff outside that. But the atmosphere is different than it was March 12. And people within the movement's willingness to condemn others who step out of line is more prevalent, as we've seen.
The city approved the planned 'Walkerville' tent city. Notable that the group that requested the permit pretty much came out and said they were going to violate the restrictions on the permit.
The JFC meeting last night voted on various changes to police and firefighters benefits and I think approved a two tier system with them too.
Those who are firm members of the Dems were pissed simply as a matter of party line and following because it was condemned on the floor by Jauch and Taylor. There's a lot of people mad because it's negative attention, and this could lose some independents and former Republicans. While on the surface it's all about the recalls, this runs deeper, and is a part of the liberals and progressives being part of the establishment.
From what I've experienced in progressive and liberal groups, people are scared shitless of direct action. They don't understand it. They may understand the motives, but they just can't imagine breaking with the establishment and going against it to make gains. The way they were condemning Voces is very disturbing. People I expected to at least show some sense of solidarity were adamantly against it. I think the aftermath of this shows how weak we truly are.
Some more condemning
Budget bill passed the JFC, now it will be sent to the assembly, then the senate. It cuts spending on public schools and the university system, gives tax breaks to businesses, and provides an increase in capitol security funding. It also introduces a two tier pay system for police and fire fighters.
Pictures of 'Walkerville': http://www.flickr.com/photos/wisaflcio/sets/72157626762209285/
That Isthmus editorial was was painful to read. Theres a long line of people commenting "cosigned", Mr. Communications director of the ASO is one of them. Of those not simply writing "Cosigned", many are stating that condemning Voces is not a smart maneuver. I think having Ryan come out in favor of Voces' action was helpful, and may have swung a number of the liberals who are closely following the events at the capitol. I think those that watched it on the nightly news, as well as the party line fuckers, are primarily the ones against it.
One of the leaders of Defending Wisconsin PAC, who also was a delegate at the Democrat convention this weekend I believe, has been the target of other Dems pissed at him for his supposed leading role in the disruption. There;s been some sort of campaign to get him removed from a number of liberal Facebook groups, plus some other stuff I don't know about. It's weird to know about such things at that level.
Surtrsflame
What liberal garbage. One of the biggest problems of Walker's education plan is to remove almost all opportunites for non-"citizens".
removed by syndicalist
http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/06/05/wisconsin.walkerville/index.html
Surtrsflame
Civil disobedience and occupations are what's been called collective bargaining by other means.
x359594
"Progressives", eh....
From what Juan and another friend on facebook just posted via mobile, they just reoccupied the capitol!
Clusterfuck today. Blockades wilted away, lots of confusion and plans changed with little communication. Protesters and police got into a shoving match at a bank. Some students got left out to hang at a blockade and 2 of them were arrested.
People went back into the capitol. The entrance got open and people ran in and police started slamming people to the ground, including journalists. 6 detained at the capitol. Everyone has been cited and released by now.
Keep in mind this is way more people arrested than any time before.
Don't think anyone is at the capitol anymore
Pix: http://on.fb.me/iCAKcn
Video of two arrests at the capitol
http://youtu.be/Zsdhsi8EswE
Pic of people pushin the doors that the cops were holdin to get in capitol
So, I'm not sure exactly what happened, as everything and everybody was a bit confused, but here goes, based on what I've heard.
There were blockades planned for today at various intersections around the capitol, the aim was to shut down the streets and block traffic in the area around the capitol. Not sure how long this had been planned, but apparently not long enough. Of course, from my experience at the RNC, you don't know exactly what you're getting into with this stuff without doing it or doing a lot of planning with more experienced people
Two mistakes I think were made off the bat: The police and mayor were given the heads up but the plans weren't publicly put out there, which meant a minority of people even knew blockades were planned.
I think also certain union locals and others who committed to doing stuff backed down earlier today. It was also pretty hot, felt like 90-95 degrees. So going around the capitol twice lost some people.
There was action at a bank which is known as supporter of Walker where there was a confrontation and shoving matches between police and protesters. That changed the tone of the police completely towards everyone. Where previously they were going to be lenient with the blockades, they turned against them. At some point, 2 people in the group that planned this seemingly called the blockades off, with no consulting of others and little explanation.
I don't even think all the planned blockades happened, but the one I saw, which consisted of a Steelworker RV and a private car blocking an intersection melted away after a brief conversation with police. This was right about the time the bulk of the crowd showed up. I think at some point the police ordered the street to be cleared and everyone melted away, except a core of mostly students who were wondering why they weren't being backed up. 3 of them got arrested (2 of them were black of course). I think they're pissed at the whole situation.
At some point some plans changed or some of the planner's plans changed and then people were rushing the capitol building. Somehow they got the doors open and people started running inside. Police started slamming people to the ground and arrested 6 people, including 2 journalists and 2 medics. Keep in mind that there were whole weeks here in the past with 100,000 protesters on the weekend and regularly 1,000-20,000 on the weekdays with 0-2 arrests. Today there were probably 2,000-3,000 people at noon on a Monday, so not bad. By the time I got to the capitol, the police got control, and there was a line to get in, with metal detectors and all that. There was maybe 30-40 people in there singing. A left after 20 minutes or so.
Really I think a lot of this comes down to those that planned this have never done anything like this before. I'm not saying the RNC blockades were super succesful (although we did run downtown for like 3 hours) or even the same thing (there were National Guard, rubber bullets, violence, property destruction, mass arrests), but why tell the cops and mayor your plans, but not make them public. Seems like a certain element of using people as canon fodder to me. Also, this means there was not separation of time and space. Doing illegal actions requires a certain amount of preparation. Legal, mental, etc. You can't just say in the middle of permitted, regular march, "Oh, we're doing blockades, wanna join?" There may be some circumstances in which this will work, but I would guess this would be a minority.
Anyway, while I think today was a failure, I think it's more because of inexperience and im curious to see where everything goes from here.
I missed this: when did this happen?
Samotnaf
2008 in Minnesota
I was able to make it down for today, and it was a major change from the other protests I had been able to go to. The last one of those was late March. The march starting at the firestation was tense even before it started. The first time the march passed the M&I bank there were 3 officers standing by the doors. On the second pass, the fire department appeared to initiate the anti-M&I actions. After a while, there was a scuffle, which I had a hard time seeing. The cops were wearing fluorescent vests which could be seen and were making violent motions. One protester was lying on his back and had clearly been knocked down by a cop, he was yelling at them for their actions but they were busy kicking out the protesters. It seemed to me that the cops initiated, and some of the protestors fought back, ending in a couple arrests. 3 other police ran in from the streets to help out. An officer was overheard when I was entering the capitol stating that the state patrol had arrived a half hour ago, which would correspond to just after the the M&I incident.
Just after I entered the capitol, I saw the journalist being hauled away by the cop, as shown in the video posted above by Juan. There is a point in that video where a guy off camera is saying "don't touch me I'm just standing here" (he may have been the guy taping that upload). What's not seen is that he starts being harassed by a State Patrol. The state patrol let him alone and 'helped' the bald cop get the two journalists in the elevator.
Yeah, I concur, the atmosphere was a lot more angrier and tense, although that might have had to do with the confusion and apprehension though.
I think the supreme court election might have pushed those who were on the fence with the electoral stuff towards direct action. I've kind of dropped out of the wider movement for the most part (lot of personal stuff goin on), so its hard to gauge.
I do see various points of separation emerging though. The problem is that I'm not sure if people are prepared to be called out by the recall folks. I think there's a real possibility of the type of stuff we've seen in the past, most recently with the Oscar Grant stuff, where liberals attempt to marginalize those outside their agreement.
A part of me is in favor of pushing something like the St.Paul Principles:
But this was for a different purpose and event and has problems of its own. I guess I'm just worried that this emerging direct action tendency is too weak to survive condemnations and attempted isolation efforts by the dominant recall faction.
So wait, who organized these actions? And who gave the cops/mayor the plans first?
Chilli Sauce
The group who organized the march, the blockades and the bank action is a coalition group that's been around as long as I've been here. It's a pretty loose group, actually reminds me of most synthesis anarchist groups. Most of the people heavily involved are union local staff or elected position holders, but with a lot of involvement from some nonprofit staff, rank and file union members and nonunion workers who are involved in other groups. It's pretty much one of those groups where people with visibility or 'cred' are listened to and given more talking time, while unknowns, etc have a hard time getting their word in. Whoever shows up to ameeting can vote, etc.
This group gave the cops/mayor the heads up
http://www.forwardlookout.com/2011/06/why-did-soglin-call-in-the-cops-on-union-protesters/11127
Thank you for the updates, Juan Conatz.
The national media has pretty much ignored Wisconsin since March 12-13, even though since then there have still been days where tens of thousands marched. There's nothing close to that amount in Walkerville (probably 50-100) when I was downtown on Monday, so I'm assuming CNN is covering this for the novelty...
http://inthearena.blogs.cnn.com/2011/06/08/walkerville-a-tent-city-grows-in-madison-wisconsin-as-budget-protests-continue/
Defeating Walker and the GOP's agenda will require patient vigilance
http://www.isthmus.com/isthmus/article.php?article=33750
Seeing that rotting professional dinosaur, Jesse, was very depressing.
I wouldn't be so sure. The Democrats and "left" here pushed Kloppenberg for Supreme Court as a mandate on Scott Walker. Part of the start of demobilization was shoving everyone and all the unions into campaigning for her. She lost by tens of thousands of votes.
This is part of the whole thing, but austerity would, will and is being pushed by the Democrats elsewhere and people either don't know this or just ignore it.
This is a very wide spread fear here.
Interesting, I haven't noticed this.
This is bullshit. I wonder what this person is talking about?
Right here, boiled down, is the nonsense that is going on here. The recall people want everything to be done with the "middle", the moderate" and the "center" in mind.
This was not resolve, this was self-policing initiated and encouraged by the AFL-CIO and Democratic police.
Strange to post this without any critical comment - or do you feel the critiques are too obvious?
What do you think?
Anyway, I edited the post with comments.
Also...
From Madison lawyer on Facebook
Looks like they're adding the collective bargaining amendment in right now. Forgone conclusion that it will pass. There's a rally at 530pm.
Supreme court clear way for collective bargaining law to take effect
http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_a97180be-96d2-11e0-a26f-001cc4c03286.html
i'm down at the capitol right now, there's some thousands here with all the regular speechmakers
I was down at the capitol earlier. Maybe 7,000-10,000 people. We got rid of a bunch of general strike posters and stickers. Probably the most I've seen the posters out in a while.
It was the regular union bureaucrats, politicians and PAC staff giving their bullshit speeches. People come up, stand around, then leave. Same old, same old.
A circle was formed around the capitol with "Hey hey, ho ho, Scott Walker has got to go" chants and "We Shall Overcome" was sung.
I left a little while after that. Assembly comes back tonight to discuss the budget more. Not sure what will happen now. I imagine a slow death of demobilization and some court challenges. I've heard talk of challenging the law on first amendment grounds. That seems pretty desperate and weak, though.
It seems like it could only get weaker.
If there was a way to connect those who have been frustrated by this and want to act differently, but are constrained and humiliated to have the official way of doing things loom over them, how would that happen? How do people who are not satisfied by this meet each other and change/redefine the narrative?
Something I emailed to folks
what ever
That's the million dollar question, isn't it? :confused:
Well elements of the labor left, which I'll define as the following (taken from the pamphlet me and OliverTwister are writing, hope you don't mind, bruh!)
Anyway, elements of the labor left, specifically the independent ones probably need to coalesce around something. Some of them did around the general strike when that was being pushed within the unions, but the strategy was fragmented and I don't think they knew how to go about it. Some of them when they realized what it was going to take, become frightened, as well. The prospect of going to jail is not something everyone can easily digest.1
Possibly starting industrial networks or public sector networks grouped around something like commitments to:
1)Organize within our workplaces and communities, instead of primarily outside them in activist activity that merely lobbies bosses or politicians through protests.
2)Direct action instead of electoral solutions, which includes the recall
3)Opposition to all austerity measures.
It's not something I've really developed or thought about heavily, but it could be a start. While, it's necessary that the movement expands, and that this whole situation isn't just about collective bargaining...if the public sector workers don't move, no one is.
For anarchists or the libertarian left or whatever you want to call it, material against the recall and for the things listed should be done more as well. In Madison, maybe it's just how this town is, but there has been really no anarchist presence at anything most of the time I've been here. It seems anarchists that are here are in the IWW, just participate in the other groups uncritically, not involved in any group or are abstaining. Really the only exceptions where the lackluster 'mobile infoshop' at the capitol occupation and the general strike posters from burnt bookmobile. It's weird, actually.
I don't know, what do you think?
Best friend fuck your girlfriend? Kick his ass.
Bullied at school? Kill everyone.
Someone disrespects you at the club? Fucking shoot them.
No money? Rob a gas station.
Government tries to slash funds for programs you need to live on and restricts your rights on the job? Calmly ask them not to.
Looks like what I heard was right
http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_e0810a92-9782-11e0-a27f-001cc4c002e0.html
Thanks for the updates Juan.
Looking forward to that piece by you and Twister. If you want editing or feedback prior to publication, you know my email 8-)
Before the budget bill passed, 2 people bikelocked their heads to an area in the senate. And 6 people got arrested blocking the doors to the senate. Today, some Teabaggers took a swing at protestor singers inside the capitol.
I'm moving from Madison in a couple days, so probably won't be many more updates. :eek:
Well they have been invaluable so far, so thank you! Before you leave you should try to bully another local into replacing you!
Where are you moving to?
There's at least 4 people who have posted in this thread that are from Madison, so if they see this and have the time, I'd recommend they take over if they want.
I'm moving to the Twin Cities as I've run out of places to stay in Madison and having trouble finding a job in this college town.
Juan in the TC?!! The city will be under workers control in month, no doubt.
Looks like I'm gonna be interviewed on California radio station KPFK tomorrow at 7pm Pacific time about Wisconsin and anarchism and such. I believe it's for the LA Anarchist Bookfair or ties into it.
Also, lol @ Chilli
Haven't been keeping track of what's happening as much because I'm not there but on the recall front, there were 6 Democratic primaries recently. The GOP fielded 'fake' Democratic candidates in each one, but they were all defeated by the 'real' Democrats. The first actual recall election, on a Democratic state senator, failed and he kept his seat.
Also, a Voter ID bill was passed a couple months back requiring state issued ID to vote, and now supposedly Walker is closing 10 DMV offices in Democratic districts while extending the hours for DMV's in Republican districts.
How did they 'fake' the Democrat candidates? And what's "DMV"? ( I suppose it's some voting registration office...). Is this form of crude manipulation of bourgeois democracy common in the States?
Juan Conatz
he's trying, but it doesn't take effect until january? the recall elections are this november, i'm assuming.
http://www.htrnews.com/article/20110725/MAN0101/307260018/DMV-Office-closure-decisions-around-state-aren-t-final
DMV is Department of Motor Vehicles. If you want to get a drivers license or a photo ID card, you need to go to DMV. Depending on how crowded the place gets there is some waiting involved (worst case I know of is my friend in California once had to wait for 4 hours) and usually there is a fee.
As far as I know, this kind of manipulation has not been widely employed after the civil rights movements, but it's becoming far more common and Wisconsin is definitely the vanguard here. Other US posters might know more about recent election manipulation. There are other ways they do it too. For example, sometimes a politician's campaign office will call Latino voters to scare them about immigration status on the voting day. There is some evidence about use and manipulation of electronic voting machines that happen to be easy to cheat (one manufacturer of them claimed his goals was to "deliver votes to George Bush" although he of course meant this would be the effect of his campaign donations - not the machines). All of this is mostly done by the Republican Party. This gives a lot of fuel for the democratic party supporters to feel righteous and so it is just another thing that seems to drive almost all common political discussion towards the topic of two parties and their differences.
[quote=petey]Juan Conatz
The recall elections are all within the next month I believe, but January is when the recall process against Walker can begin. Plus there's the 2012 elections, as well.
Samotnaf
US political parties are way less formal than in a lot of other countries. Politicians don't have to be nominated or okayed by the parties in order to run for office in their name. So, theoretically (and I guess now, practically) Republicans can run as Democrats simply by declaring so. Usually there'd be no point to doing this, since everybody would probably know anyways. However, apparently by running a second democrat, they can force a primary election to choose which democrat can run in the real recall election (at least that's what I can gather, it's possible that I misunderstood). I guess it's mainly a move to buy a little more time.
Juan Conatz
ahhh, didn't know that.
Even though parties have limited control over who can run, it was illegal to run fraudulently for a different party in Wisconsin. This law was quietly changed in April. Anybody who wants to run for a party runs in a party election to decide he candidate, which in many states is limited to party members, but is a state controlled election. Wisconsin however has open primaries, so people can vote for the other party candidates. This was the goal of the fake dems. However, such forms of voting is done in many major elections with the hope of getting the weaker candidate on the main ballot.
6 recall elections today. 2 of them of have been called and the GOP has won both of them.
http://www.channel3000.com/politics/28818377/detail.html
http://www.channel3000.com/politics/28818270/detail.html
2 seats flipped, with a 3rd being contested. Looks like it was won by the GOP under questionable circumstances. The same woman that pulled shenanigans in the Supreme Court election was involved and is being accused of possibly pulling shenanigans in this election too.
Recall failed. GOP maintains control of WI state senate. 2 recall elections on Democrats next week. So there's a possibility that the composition of the senate could end up completely unchanged after all this.
For what it's worth, these were seats that went GOP in the democrat wave of 2008. This still shows that there has been a distinct shift to the left for the voter. Whether this means anything tangible for a possibility of an anarchist movement at some point in the States or not only time can tell.
Just got this email.
and
http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/127434893.html
The recall against the 2 democrats failed.
Been keeping an eye on the Wisconsin media and any different opinions on the strike option that once existed now that the recalls have failed in their objective.
This appeared in one of the free papers in Madison's website
Wisconsin stands up to far-right: Be proud
Also...
Wisconsin state employees brace for lower paychecks
http://www.isthmus.com/isthmus/article.php?article=34402
It's really interesting to see this in The Isthmus, a paper whose contributers were such opponents to anything that didn't fit in with a democrat strategy. I think this is a good sign.
http://www.youtube.com/embed/BvYV9zAdl60
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150766943550403&comments
Couple good videos. It seems like a few more people are waving black and reds.
Nah it's the same folks as before, from what I can tell. lol, is that a RAAN banner on the second vid, though?
This is the first march in a while, huh? I heard is around 1,000, and a bunch of people refused to leave the capitol and 13 got arrested.
I recognized a couple of the Madison wobs, but I don't remember any RAAN guys at anything before, and I'm pretty sure that is a RAAN banner.
One of the IWW people is in the Socialist Party.....and RAAN. Don't ask me how. I guess he found others or just made the banner himself.
There is a RAAN faction/tendency with the SP. No I'm serious. Search RevLeft.
I guess while it seems really strange, having anarchist factions in the SP makes a bit sense considering that SP is a multi-tendency party
This is well off topic by this point, but that doesn't make sense. Why would anarchists join a Trot party that seeks (and has achieved some small degree of) state power? Makes no more sense than a Trot faction in a synthesis anarchist group.
SP-USA is not a trot party, it is a multi-tendency party with democratic socialism as the general unifying ideology, although members cover a range of ideologies from leninism to left communism, and apparently anarchism also.
If anarchism is looked at within a spectrum of socialist though, then it makes a bit of sense, which I am figuring is the idea behind such a faction. If anarchism is looked at as separate from the rest of communism and socialist thought, then it doesn't.
Back on topic though - apparently the NSM is holding a march in the town of West Allis, a suburb of Milwaukee. The liberal coalitions that have built up since February are planning some counter demonstrations.
i don't think that anarchists are part of the left, and i don't see how anarchists could do anything of value in a political organisation that is so broad it includes trots.
Agree with RG above, but, my apologies, I was confusing the US SP with the UK SP.
On the SPUSA, years ago (1970s), there were quite a few folks who considered themselves libertarian socialists within the party. Some of them were real good comrades, very supportive of revoltuionary syndicalism and so forth. I've no clue about today's SPUSA though, other than there being folks in the SPUSA who are also in the IWW.
Representatives of the SPUSA were handing out their magazine explaining in depth the importance of electoral politics just a few weeks ago. Specifically, they were handing out Issue #6 2010 seen here; the PDF is not available at the moment, but here's the table of contents:
I don't see how anarchists can be party to such a party.
Chilli Sauce
No worries. It seems that 9/10 parties with the word 'socialist' in the name are trot parties. For all I know SPUSA might be lead by trots.
syndicalist
I think most of it is tradition largely due to SPUSA being the continuation of the early 20th century Socialist Party of America. In the past 90 years enough has changed between the two groups that I don't think being a SPUSA member and an anarchist useful. A lot of wobblies are in SPUSA and are not necessarily anarchists, given that the IWW is not strictly an anarcho-syndicalist union.
One last walk down memory lane ..... in the mid-1970s....a number of socialists embraced one form or another of libertarian socialism and syndicalism.....some were members of the SPUSA, some ex-members of the SLP. The general medium for communication was through "Synthesis." A discussion iniative kicked off by the
ex-de leonists of the San Pedro, CA League for Economic Democracy. Participants ranged from SPUSA folks, situationists, libertarian communists, anarcho-syndicalists, wobblies and others.
Sorry for being off topic.
radicalgraffiti
they are crazy RAANistas that why, who knows why they are doing it. probably cause they are the only people they could find talking class struggle in their town, or being equally nerdy.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/Largest-state-unions-wont-seek-recertification-by-Thursday-deadline.html
Check out this, written by the chief cop in Madison,Wisconsin: http://improvingpolice.wordpress.com/
It not only mentions the policing of Madison, but also Oakland, Dr.Who's The Crowd blog and other stuff. "Cops For Labor" meet "Cops for communism".
For those interested, right now they're in the process of collecting signatures to trigger a recall against Walker. They've gotten tons of sigs too and volunteers are pretty much everywhere. A comrade (who I believe posts here) went home for Christmas in WI and said he was asked to sign a recall petition outside a Fleet Farm (a hunting, sportwear, etc etc store).
There's been all sorts of reports of violence against people hawking recall petitions. Volunteers have been spit at, assaulted, threatened, yelled at, etc. Folks with recall signs in their yard have had them ripped down, burned, their property vandalized, etc.
Not very related, but there's a strike going on in Manitowoc that I've been hearing has gotten a lot of support, most likely because of the atmosphere in WI since the movement.
http://www.iamlodge516.org/
Samotnaf
So I just clicked on this link (which I've broken--ACAB!111) and the lead article is about how, um, cops should be community organisers and how hierarchy is bad :confused:
Emphasis mine.
Juan Conatz
Also, not very related but.... Another midwest struggle of some note is the American Crystal workers lockout since August.2011.
http://www.bctgm.org/ACS_news.html
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=367x32915
http://labornotes.org/blogs/2011/08/sugar-workers-bitter-over-lockout
http://www.themilitant.com/2012/7601/760103.html
Yeah, someone from that union spoke at a Labor Notes thing in St.Paul back in the fall. Seemed like a really bizarre situation. The owners of the company are the farmers, so in some cases people's own family are the ones locking them out.
But yeah, that's not even in Wisconsin and is actually closer to North Dakota than WI.
Juan Conatz
Any meetings being held to establish collective defense?
S. Artesian
Not sure. I've only been through Wisconsin very briefly since I left in July. I do know people have been arrested, as ripping up recall petitions and stuff like this is pretty against the law. Might be a federal offense, possibly.
There's been a smaller amount of violence from anti-Walker people, too. A bar owner pulled out a gun on 2 patrons for refusing to sign a petition that was going around. At least that's what the news said. Could be bullshit.
Small town Wisconsin high school marching band sneaks in Guthrie's "Union Maid" at the Rose Bowl Parade
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/01/03/1051043/-Pulaski-WI-Marching-Band-Sticking-to-the-Union-in-Rose-Bowl-Parade
Juan Conatz
And in the end: http://labornotes.org/blogs/2012/01/wisconsin-crane-strike-crumples
Anyone see/read this book yet? For US readers, many of the authors are prolly predictable in their analysis and perspectives.
Wisconsin Uprising -Labor Fights Back edited by Michael D. Yates with a foreword by Robert W. McChesney
http://monthlyreview.org/press/books/pb2808/
There's a 'zine' put out about the capitol occupation, now available online. Haven't read it yet.
http://occupationzine.org/download/
Pretty much gotta read it to believe it...
Randy Hopper Found Not Guilty Of DUI Charge, After Union-Conspiracy Defense
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/03/randy_hopper_found_not_guilty_of_dui_charge_after.php?m=1
In other news, there's a number of different candidates that have announced or are suspected of announcing soon their candancy for governer in the recall election against Walker. One of them, seemingly the most popular, is one of the Democrats who fled to Illinois. Russ Feingold, a former Congressman who was also one of the most left in Congress for a while, was a favorite, but he has continuously declined.
That Randy Hopper thing is pretty amazing to read.
Is his wife the one who met a crowd outside their house by saying that he was with his girlfriend and that she'd sign the recall petition?
Remarkable, this guy has amazing shit-head credentials.
-Anti union legislation
-Drunk Driver
-gets away with it via conspiracy theory
and perhaps worse of all. . .
he is that guy leaving half-empties laying aorund
OliverTwister
Hahaha, I forgot about that, not sure.
Yup, that'd be him - it earned him the nickname BedHopper. His girlfriend (in the car with him when he got the DUI) also got a nice spoils position in the Walker administration with something like double the salary of the positions previous occupant.
The following is from a pamphlet recently put out by Socialist Alternative. I haven't read it all, but zeroed in on what seemed relevent to my experience. Here's some excerpts.
Politically a disagree with SA quite a bit, but they were one of the first groups to call for a general strike and put out a lot of material for that. They also had a grouping in the TAA union that attempted to organize for strike action but got outmaneuvered by pro-recall people.
Interesting way to look at it. Years ago, when the UFCW was agreeing to huge concessions in the meatpacking industry, they would call such such a tactic a "strategic retreat". No doubt, this theory is a permanent one in labor leaderships thinking.
There's a truism to both in what the IWW was arguing for and what the on-the-ground reality might have been. While both are at loggerheads and in conflict with each other, this will be the push and pull of all struggles in unionized sectors. This came about in Longview, WA as well.
Obviously we can not predict when fight will happen. Obviously "our" numbers are weak and sacttered. But this should never prevent "us" from both the practical efforts at constructive workplace organizing and of raising concepts broader then a small sectoral battle. While not being the main demand or platform of ones struggle, perhaps the demand should become more regular at timke and places where it might make tactical sense to raise it.Perhaps it will take mucho time before folks understand or agree to the concept of the generl strike....but yas gots to start sometime, some place.
Walker supporters/right wing have been trying to out people that signed the recall petitions, including specifically media people. This has resulted in some death threats towards some media people.
http://www.defendwisconsin.org/2012/04/21/news-anchor-threatened-for-signing-recall-petition/
Also, I was in Wisconsin a couple weeks ago and there are pro-Walker or pro-recall signs pretty much everywhere. The amount of these signs rivals, if not exceeds, a presidential election.
I am so fucking sick of "RECAAAAALLLLL" chants. I can't stand this fucking state anymore.
Redwinged Blackbird
You and me both, brother. You and me both.
The guy who Walker beat to be elected Governor just won the Democratic primary for the recall election
Milwaukee mayor earns a do-over with convincing win in recall primary
http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/elections/milwaukee-mayor-earns-a-do-over-with-convincing-win-in/article_288099fe-9974-11e1-949a-001a4bcf887a.html
In Madison, a Republican Challenger to Walker won that district or ward or whatever its called. He was a protester that dressed up as Abe Lincoln.
https://www.facebook.com/artforgov
Juan Conatz
Yeah, Art came to my school. Just a typical left-liberal, but nice enough, and I love it when people troll the political system!
Wife hits husband with SUV after argument over recalls
http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/wife-drives-into-chippewa-falls-man-after-vote-argument-ke5bdap-150697635.html
tastybrain
I remember seeing him at stuff when I was there. I think he was involved in the capitol occupation and/or ASO, although I could be wrong.
bump.
Hey yall. So the damn thing is finally happening. The Recall election results will be public June 5. The news says Walker is ahead in the polls, and most people I've talked to believe he's going to win. I'm not to plugged into anything here, but one can imagine that maybe something is going to happen when Walker wins. Either that, or the Left just wasted a year plus of its falling political capital.
I would be interested to know if anyone has heard of any emergency plans, and if so perhaps the midwest could think quickly and not make the same mistakes as before. My guess is there's going to be a demonstration in Madison, but I have no idea if that's the case.
I'd say we should organize our own dumb thing, but I think most of us are not networked in way to have a core of 100 or so that can create the buzz for more (I probably wouldn't be posting on Libcom if that weren't the case). Nonetheless, what do yall think?
People are going to be angry, and feel betrayed. It would seem like a pretty good opportunity to strike.
Yeah I have no idea what will happen. I don't think there is a 'Plan B' from what I've heard, although I'm in Minneapolis now and I haven't been keeping in contact with WI folks as much anymore.
My impression, from the bits I've heard from people who've talked to some of the IWW dual carders in the public sector is that morale is pretty low. That said, WI in general and Madison specifically are still pretty unique places. For example there is a non-public organizing campaign going on and comrades have co-workers coming into work everyday plastered in pro-union buttons, unaware of the organizing committee that exists there. So because of the atmosphere that seems to still exist, there's more of a chance of something happening than, say, tomorrow in Minneapolis.
I saw a lone individual start a 'General Strike' Facebook event, but such things are not started by lone individuals on Facebook, they're started by angry workers that go out and others go out, too.
Theres a demonstration called for june 6 in milwaukee on facebook i think by occupy milwaukee. I'm not sure if that means theres also one called for in madison and i dont know which would be more fruitful. Some comrades in mke are talkin about doing an ancap march & pushing an antiausterity position, but its unclear if that will be in mke or madison. I think it mite be cool for other comrades in wi & around the region to think about coming to wi. If theres a coherent plan that comes out it will be posted here.
Walker is going to win the recall, and he's probably going to do it with some cheating. I'm going to use it to blast liberals on how broken their stupid election system is. At least we can all stop hearing "reeeeeeeecaaaaawwwwwwwlllll waaaaaallllllkkkkeeeeerrrrr!" all over the fucking capitol square, regardless of who wins. As much as I hate Barrett, I'm going to vote for him out of damage control. I can't take any more of Walker's bullshit, his latest deal is a plan to privatize all the public land and sell it to game farms. This is basically a privatization of the commons. I grew up in the northwoods of this state, this plan would be a fucking death-blow to a lot of people up there, many of whom rely on hunting and fishing as a food source and obviously can't afford to pay the prices of game farms ($1000 for a deer? fuck that!) nor would they want to hunt on what people know is a breeding ground for CWD (deer version of Mad Cow Disease).
:confused: :confused: :confused:
Chilli Sauce
I'm pretty sure that was supposed to mean anti-capitalist and not anarcho-capitalist.
It was meant to mean that...
There is march called for by occupy milwaukee "keep it n the streets" with an anti-capitalist bloc June 6 pere marquette park 5pm. While it would be nice for many people to come either way, i think it would be very good for comrades in the surrounding area to make their way to mke if walker wins. There are a few places to stay, but you might wish to bring a sleeping bag if the general assembly goes well. Either a march will happen or this will may be the begining of something more interesting. I think its in our best interest to make plans & be ready.
Yeah FRSO just sent that out (I'm on the email list of pretty much every Trot/Maoist group in the U.S.).
What are the plans of Wisconsin anarchos in relation to this? Not voting presumably?
Juan Conatz
share your lists!
pm me, i'm nerdy like that
Well, today is the recall election for governor. From what I've seen, Walker has had a slight lead in the polls, but not significant enough to really say which one will win.
This, of course, has national implications as well. I think more for the Democrats though.
Chilli Sauce
I imagine some are and some aren't. There really isn't any precense of anarchists with their own projects in WI. The closest would be the Burnt Bookmobile blog or the infoshop/social center type places in Madison or Milwaukee. I imagine in Madison, those people will vote. In Milwaukee, less likely.
Thanks Juan.
seems walker beat the recall :|
trying to bring a crew of @ from up nort, Liam... It's either Mdsn or MKE, but I'm not driving...
Amazing. Walker won by a bigger margin than in 2010. My Facebook is exploding about articles about voter fraud, but I'm not sure I buy it.
The Lt. Governor also won her recall election.
So, bit of analysis from the anarchos, please!
Obviously, it's all bullshit, what's needed is not any politician but an increase in the confidence and combatitivity of the class in Wisconsin. However, how do we think Walkers recall victory will play out? Will he come after workers even harder? Is there any sense that workers (and maybe certain sections of the mainstream unions) will be more willing to play outside of the bounds of labor law? Has the IWW in the state issued any sort of statement?
MKE might be the place to be tonight, especially if we're trying to get away from the everyone-go-to-the-capitol-and-walk-in-circles game. There will be an anti-capitalist contingent that could be pretty big if people came from around the state to it, and such a sizable contingent might create some multipolarity in the discourse against austerity in Wisconsin (which only a small section of the people angry consider to be the thing anyway).
It will be "interesting" to see what, if any, additional "right-to-work" (for less) and anti-worker/anti-union stuff starts cming down the line in a coordinated way across the country.
BTW, I thought I heard on the radio that the Dems have a majority in the WI Senate. Not to endorse the Dems or reformism or the like, but might that slow down or water down any additional stuff Walker might want to pull?
On the OWS forum, just a short while ago, I read that Democrats succeeded in winning the Wisconsin Senate. If the narrow victory holds up, it is more symbolic than practical.
Elections in November, gerrymandered for GOP benefit, may tell if Walker truly has the support of Wisconsin voters or if they simply believed Barrett was not the right man to lead the state.
http://lbo-news.com/2012/06/06/walkers-victory-un-sugar-coated/?utm_campaign=X&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitter
Decent article echoing union criticisms that have been made on here many times.
Apparently Tom Barret was slapped in the face by someone in the crowd of his supporters, for dropping out of the race before all the ballots had been counted last night. The man has a habit of getting hit in the face. Two years ago he was hit in the face with a tire iron, while trying to intervene on a domestic dispute outside of the Wisconsin State Fair.
Apparently Tom Barret was slapped in the face by someone in the crowd of his supporters, for dropping out of the race before all the ballots had been counted last night. The man has a habit of getting hit in the face. Two years ago he was hit in the face with a tire iron, while trying to intervene on a domestic dispute outside of the Wisconsin State Fair.
Yeah I heard he was booed when he said he talked to Walker when he conceding the race.
This happened in Milwaukee: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=626zgMzyuwY
Something will probably be written about it more, but it was, however silly and weak at times, the most wild occupy/anti-walker/anti-austerity event that has happened since the shit started. Two Hundred people actively snaking around the city, routing and wrestling police, hating the police, feeling far more fierce and common than a long long ass time. Maybe thirty people doing the black bloc, and another fifty just as if not more confrontational than the bloc, but not blocked up.
What happened in Madison?
Juan Conatz
As a rule, FB is full of shit. It's just online groupthink. One of my coms joked last week that if the stuff they saw on FB had any bearing, no-one in Ireland was going to vote YES in the Fiscal Compact referendum. FB said 100% NO. The newspaper polls said 60/40 to the YES. The newspapers were right.
So the spin on the recall election coming from the unions/liberals/Democrats is that Walker outspent Barrett 7-to-1 and that, hey, at least the Democrats won 1 of the 4/5 recall elections that day. I think they took control of either the state house or senate. Also, there is some anger from liberals because the Democratic National Committee put zero to little resources in WI and Obama/Biden didn't come out to support Barrett. Obama says that Barrett never asked him to come out.
Some accusations of voter fraud are also being made, but most of it is really vague. What isn't vague is, while probably ethically objectionable, I'm not sure actually illegal and in any case, Barrett lost by a wide enough margin that to blame it on fraud is ridiculous. The level of fraud needed for a margin that big just couldn't be done unnoticed unless in a third world dictatorship.
Milwaukee was pretty fuckin rad. It was a pretty refreshing adventure, as Wisconsin has been quite lame lately.
A friend in Madison told me it was non-confrontational there as usual. Damnit Madison.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=626zgMzyuwY&feature=player_embedded
An account from someone else there (not me):
"Yesterday, people took to the streets during a march. Police tried to get them out of the street, and the crowd refused to obey, overflowing the police lines and pushing against police and police horses to continue moving. When police tried to arrest a number of individuals, others in the crowd dearrested them (pulling them to safety). One of the police officers that was swinging their baton had it pulled away by someone in the crowd, who hit the cop then threw it at another cop. The cops tried a bunch of times to kettle and intimidate the crowd, and failed every time."
Police Report:
"Five people were arrested; one for obstructing/resisting an officer, four for disorderly conduct. Video of the incidents show protesters refusing police orders to get out of the street and onto the sidewalks to let traffic pass and to keep members of the group from being struck by passing vehicles. A bottle containing a liquid was thrown at an officer and it struck him, but the officer was not injured. Protesters can be seen in video clips trying to grab the reins of the police horses as Mounted Officers tried to push the people back onto the sidewalk."
Taken from @news:
Electoral Politics Recalled: An Evening of Wildness Snakes Through Downtown Milwaukee
Four arrests Wednesday evening. A “keep it in the streets” protest in downtown Milwaukee followed the re-election of Governor Scott Walker, and scheduled to respond to the victory of either politician. At this time, four have been released and cited with disorderly conduct and one more recently released back into our arms a day later than the rest. The five that were arrested were almost arbitrarily chosen for their close proximity to the blind and fevered panic of the police. The police, despite their smirks, had far less control over the situation than they want to say. At moments they had to put their hands on their guns just to convince themselves of who was in control. Shit was out of control.
After a year and a half being wasted on a recall election, after all of the energy put into the Capitol occupation and state-wide strikes was funneled into useless electoral politics, there is now room to breathe and begin again. This newfound freedom to act was seen in the streets of Milwaukee with surprising clarity. What started as a gathering of talking heads quickly escalated into a push and shove match with police, whose aim was to corner and stop any unpermitted march from taking place. Within seconds of the march, protesters took to the streets as dozens of cops in riot gear attempted to contain them. The crowd was unwilling to be pushed aside, and worked together to shove back and wind around the horses, motorcycles, and beefy baton-wielding helmets.
The black bloc, though dormant in Milwaukee for years, seemingly reappeared (some in all black, some with red bandannas, and some other groups and individuals who wore some form of the mask) and it both engaged in confrontation and helped to defend individuals in the crowd, while others that weren't bloc'd up joined in and initiated their own actions. Its very presence declared non-violence an impossibility.
Police tried to stop the crowds, but failed again and again to contain its excesses. People pushed against police lines and horses and pulled their friends to safety as cops attempted to arrest them. One startled cop had some unknown liquid thrown at his face during the first attempted kettle. At another moment of police provocation a member of the crowd wrested a baton from the grip of a cavalry officer, hit him, and threw the baton at another, then jumped into the cloak of the crowd. It was unruly, disobedient, and willing to shove, at least 150 deep.
After twelve or so blocks of low-intensity conflict, protestors made it to Zeidler Park, the planned to be space of occupation. At this point the PA once again became an instrument of boredom as the crowd was talked at by people that wanted to give speeches instead of dance, or eat, or fight. Attention was then shifted to supporting those arrested, and a small crowd moved to the local police station to await their release. No occupation happened, but for now that is ok. All in all, the event was a short but inspiring leap away from the silly matter of a recall election.
When asked about the protest, police chief Flynn was quoted saying that it was MPD’s job to “babysit” the crowd while they “pretend to be relevant protestors”. We couldn’t disagree more. It is only now that the police have been identified as a thing to be fought, and the recognition that democracy will always fail to appease its audience that Wisconsin joins relevant contemporary struggle. Last year at the Capitol there was some confusion as to whether or not the police could be considered a part of the working class and it is very nice to see this question can put to rest. There is nothing more salient to present-day politics than an antagonism towards police.
Meanwhile, the media acted with calculation, minimizing and simplifying events, as they are expected to, creating a safe distance from any possible intensity. To them, it was simply a protest, it was “40”, it was “several”. It marched roughly half the actual distance down the forgettable avenue of Plankinton, when the wildness really cut through Water Street, the center of downtown. We blocked traffic “briefly” (ahem, forty god minutes at least). Their tendencies are to be non-descriptive, to imply that those that got arrested deserved it, and to minimize the actual event as much as possible, acknowledging it only so as to explain it away.
Similarly, the Left attempts to erase the excitement and power we experienced at the march. They talk about a peaceful, nonviolent protest where police officers unjustly arrested individuals to stifle free speech. From their press releases to the photos they post, the shining activists of the 99% were all but crushed, helpless victims.
The truth is that the march wouldn't have happened if it hadn't been as unruly and forceful as it had been, and there would have been many more arrests and injuries at the hands of the police. There was anger, and there was power.
To the rest of the world that is fighting and making 2012 the year that the world ends: Don’t wait for us, we’ll catch up!
We were not the 99%. We were 150, and we were angry.
Cant watch the video. Says its "private".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2nB8KjxoVQ
This should work better.
Looks like the 'money is speech' decision by the SCOTUS combined with endless populist sloganeering and 're-branding' of attacks on workers as attacks on 'parasites' is working to give the organized right a new lease on life. Walker's victory gave legitimacy to his policies and methods of governing, as seen by his new public relationship with Romney. Public sector workers as parasitic, greedy thugs is now a legitimate and repeated mantra- looks like we'll get to see the Democrats repeat their weak decades long opposition to Taft-Hartley (repealing it was dropped from their party program not too long ago) and play the 'only friends of labor' against states enacting more and more restrictive and draconian labor laws. Hell, they've wanted to do all this since Nixon had the AFL-CIO political director at the top of his 'List'. You'd think they'd be thankful for the unions introducing Political Action Committee's (now Super-PACs) into American electoral politics :)
Well, liberal activists in this state have lost a lot of faith in the election system, that's one thing thats become obvious in the past 10 days since the election. If it'll amount to much is yet to be seen.
http://coreyrobin.com/2012/06/20/what-might-have-been-one-report-from-madison-wisconsin/
Here's a response a wrote to that comment
The courts have now overturned this law. Walker is going to appeal:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/09/14/161175928/court-strikes-down-wis-collective-bargaining-law-championed-by-gov-walker?sc=17&f=1001
Oh boy. Reading through this thread brings up a lot of memories. Thought I'd post an update.
In reference to Steven's last post, the unions tried through the courts to get the Act defeated, but, in the end, the Wisconsin Supreme Court upheld it.
As is known, Walker won the recall election. He also won relection in November 2014, beating his Democratic opponent 52% to 46%. Like in the recall election, the Democrats downplayed some of the most polarizing issues, such as collective bargaining and austerity, in favor of middle of the road nonsense about job creation and such. Walker is now considering running for President in 2016.
There have been a couple of books written about the 'Wisconsin Uprising' in the last couple years. One of them, Uprising: How Wisconsin Renewed the Politics of Protest, from Madison to Wall Street by John Nichols, is particularly bad. I couldn't even make it through the whole thing because the author spends so much time tying the protesters to the Founding Fathers. Here's some of the books that have come out so far. I've included the publisher and a link to a description of the book, if available.
-Wisconsin Uprising: labor fights back by Michael D. Yates (Published by Monthly Review)
-It Started in Wisconsin: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the New Labor Protest edited by Mari Jo Buhle and Paul Buhle (Published by Verso Books)
-We Are Wisconsin - The Wisconsin uprising in the words of the activists, writers, and everyday Wisconsinites who made it happen edited by Erica Sagrans (Published by Tasora Books)
-A Whole Which Is Greater: Why the Wisconsin Uprising Failed edited by Paul Gilk and David Kast (Published by Wipf & Stock Pub)
-More than They Bargained For: Scott Walker, Unions, and the Fight for Wisconsin by Jason Stein and Patrick Marley (Published by University of Wisconsin Press)
-Cut from Plain Cloth: The 2011 Wisconsin Workers Protests by Dennis Weidemann (Published by Manitenahk Books)
-A View from the Interior: Policing the Protests at the Wisconsin State Capitol by Susan Riseling (Published by Mavenmark Books)
There was also a book or zine that was supposedly created by the Madison Infoshop, but I've never seen it.
During the summer of 2012, Grace Parker, db and I talked about trying to get a book together of our writings, interviews and accounts of the Wisconsin protests, but unfortunately, we never could make time for it and it didn't get further than an idea and a couple conversations.
As for the IWW in WI, things looked bright, but unfortunately, it doesn't look like we took advantage of it. There was basically a split in the Madison GMB. I wasn't there when this happened, but it seemed partially to be over tensions that built over whether new workplace organizing efforts were to be supported or whether participating in the (at that point) small protest movement was to be supported. Eventually, an Industrial Union Branch (IUB) focused on the Communications industry was formed to assist campaigns in that industry, particularly in one multi-city large workplace. Robbie Jenson and I went there, fueled on energy drinks, to do a graveyard shift, condensed Organizer Training 101. I believe they were having some successes growing the committee, but unfortunately got into a pretty heated conflict with the CWA, who came in at the urging of an ISO member1 . The IWW committee there saw this as raiding or taking over an in-process campaign, something we've actually experienced multiple times over the years, including here in the Twin Cities. In any case, John O'Reilly and I wrote a Workers Power column that was indirectly about some of the organizer's in that campaign, called 'Shotgun organizing'.
That IUB is now defunct, and the campaign they were focused on, is as well, as far as I know. The GMB is still around. They publish a newsletter called Prairie Fire.
As for Milwaukee, I went there in Spring of 2012. The Branch Secretary of the MKE GMB picked me up and we went to a bar and talked about what was going on with them. The Milwaukee branch has long been pretty small, although recently, I've noticed a flurry of activity from them, including a solidarity picket from that ZSP-Amazon conflict that is posted elsewhere in the forums. The reason I came to town was to go to event by some French communization folks involved in the journal, Sic. We exchanged emails, and I had a set of interview questions for them, but they seemed to have had difficulty with how to respond to them, and never got anything from them. Which was unfortunate, since my trip was partially funded by Nate Hawthorne for the purpose of getting something written for Recomposition. I did however interview one of the people behind Burning Bookmobile, and published it on my blog here.
There were a couple of smaller groups in smaller areas around WI that popped up, joined the IWW and then sort of disappeared.
Couple more things.
As soon as I left WI for Minnesota, the latter had a budget issue due to disagreements between the Republicans and Democratic Farmer-Labor Party. This resulted in a state government shutdown for 2 weeks. I joked at the time, that wherever I went, the state government was having a crisis.
Although, in retrospect, the movement had been defeated in April of 2011, it wasn't until around July 2011, when I arrived in Minneapolis, that the defeat hit me. Maybe if you were involved in the antiwar movement right before the invasion of Iraq, you might understand. To see and be so heavily involved in a large mass movement that loses was a lot to take. I felt pretty down for a while, until Occupy popped up, which was unexpected, and exciting.
In many ways, Occupy improved on the #wiunion. Instead of atomized individuals or grouplets in a crowd of tens of thousands, Occupy forced people to talk to each other, and decide things, in an assembly. Unfortunately, it did so through an alienating, drawn out and horrid modified consensus fashion, which goes to show, each social movement makes improvements on the last, as well as inherits the poison from the past.
Juan I respectfully suggest you turn those two comments in a blog post with just like 1-2 sentence intro. I think more people would like to read them than will find them just as comments here.
Yes.
Walker was finally defeated in the elections earlier this month by Democratic Tony Evers. Although he has promised to repeal Act 10, the GOP still controls the State Assembly and State Senate and a slight majority of Wisconsinites in polls support keeping Act 10. So I doubt even the status quo of 2010 will be returned to.
If anyone has been paying attention, Walker and the state GOP stripped the Governorship of certain discretionary powers as a retaliation against the Democrat who won the election. Also, probably in fear that the Democrat will try to reverse some of the collective bargaining things through executive order. I've noticed there has been some minor protests in Madison with the familiar "This is what democracy looks like!" slogans.