Wisconsin protests: updates and discussion

And there's this also. Leave it to the Left to make a funeral out of the most exciting and sustained worker rebellion in the US in decades. At least they're saying "no concessions," though:

STOP WALKER’S ATTACKS ON WISCONSIN

No Cuts or Concessions!

MARCH 3 • THURSDAY 5:00 PM • Funeral Procession From Library Mall to the Capitol 5:30 PM • Rally and Press Conference, State Street side of the Capitol

Scott Walker’s bill and budget proposal threaten the future of Wisconsin and would be devastating to Wisconsin families. Walker has created this crisis by granting tax breaks to his corporate backers. Now, he seeks to cut education and state employee pensions, pay and health benefits, end collective bargaining rights, and undermine regulations and social programs like BadgerCare, that protect Wisconsin’s most vulnerable citizens.

We are tired of being blamed for a crisis that was caused by Wall Street greed —and the expectation that workers and their families, already struggling in the current economic crisis, continue to make concessions. Working people did not create the recession or the budget crisis, and there can be no more concessions, period.

Endorsers:

J. Eric Cobb, Building Trades Council of South Central Wisconsin*; Phil Neuenfeldt, President of WI AFL-CIO*; Jim Cavanaugh, President, South Central Federation of Labor*; Kill the Whole Bill Coalition; Shannon Maier, President, AFSCME Local 720 Dane County Courthouse Employees*; Elizabeth Wrigley-Field, TAA*; Dave Poklinkoski, President and Business Manager, IBEW 2304*; Jack Trudell, RN, UW Hospital, SEIU 1199WI*; Tim Birkley, First Vice President, AFSCME Local 60*; Joe Schirmer, SEIU Health Care WI District 1199*; Ariel Ford, Department of Civil Rights*; Eric Robson, AFSCME Local 171*; Joe Balkis, Steward Teamsters Local 705*; Mike Imbrogno, Executive Board, AFSCME Local 171*; Ben Rattliffe, Steward, AFSCME Local 60*; Jane Schirmer, Registered Nurse; Liberty Tree; Mindy Trudell, MSW, MTI*; Minnesota Nurses Association; Michigan Nurses Association; National Nurses United *Organization for identification purposes only

Join Us to Say No to All Cuts andConcessions!

March up State St. in a funeral procession symbolizing all that is worth defending against Walker’s attacks on working people! Come dressed for a funeral, and ready to dance!

To endorse this event or for more information, please contact Pilar Schiavo at (510) 385-4213 or PSchiavo@NationalNursesUnited.org

Don't have time to go into my responses to the arguments about the IWW here, at least for the moment....But...

...Just heard some interesting information, which was mentioned in post 138, about the lobby of the theater building at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee which was occupied a couple of days ago.

There'd been a march in which some people tried to start a "everyone out - general strike" chant but it didn't go anywhere, but they shouted over chants like "tax the rich" by yelling "kill the rich" , which, while not being taken up by much of the crowd, was at least greeted by smirks and laughter. The march passed a high school that butts up on the campus and teachers were seen in the windows smiling and cheering.

After some tedious speeches by sds and union speakers they had invited, some people started yelling "it's cold" and "let's go inside" which got the crowd (about 150 remaining after the drift away from the soul-destroying speeches) moving again. They went back into the student union through the cafeteria wing, and chants of "class war" and "an eye for an eye - walker must die" were all you could hear in the cafeteria while they passed through it. After a discussion about which part of the Uni to occupy, the theater lobby of the arts building was decided on, because it stays open late, technically some students can be in it after hours and it was thought that the students and faculty there would be sympathetic, possibly engaged by the occupation. And so an occupation took place, though there were a lot of angry arguments with authoritarian killjoys who tied to manipulate things so that drinking alcohol and graffiti were banned, and arguments about filming for "alternative media".

So far I don't know if the occupation has continued or not. Maybe someone who directly participated in this has some things to add...?

That April 4th day of action, do you think they deliberately avoided calling it the week before when it'd coincide with March 26th in the UK?

Either way while it's being called by the AFL-CIO, a 'day of action' could go lots of different ways at the moment. The first student demo in London where MIllbank got smashed in was called by the NUS ffs.

There are relatively continuous updates here: http://burntbookmobile.wordpress.com/
looks like the building was still occupied last night at least.

Also, list of "demands" from the occupation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3Qd17WwfJo
(Also, just to get it out of the way: anyone who says that they should be more serious should grow a heart/sense of humor)

The occupation is continuing into its third day. For now it is a completely open, similar to the Capitol building. People come and go. About 30 regularly sleep in the building. How open it is may change depending on how the administration decides to react to it. It may appear poorly for them to arrest many students and this is why they are "allowing" it to continue.

The far left of capital is talking big:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/corey-hutchins/sc-union-leader-calls-for_b_830861.html?ref=email_share

Didn't Donald Rumsfeld say that about Iraq?

Anyway, the army the anti-bill movement's got is basically the IWW, a working-class movement in Wisconsin with no political direction or leadership beyond "Kill the Bill", and a bunch of well-wishes from the AFL-CIO. But wishes don't help in the real world.

On the other side, Walker and the Koch brothers have the entire Tea Party, Fox News, the general anti-union malaise that's always hanging over our worthless media, the Wisconsin National Guard, and the financial backing of two oil gods, half the blogosphere, and the Republican Party.

EDIT: Also, if anyone hasn't heard of this, a DC nurses' union went on a strike on Friday that was supposed to last only a day. But the hospital has locked them out, so it's going to last at least until Tuesday or Wednesday. Now some of the more recent stuff from the union expresses solidarity with Wisconsin. I think they might be becoming more aware of their position as workers.

It seems Wisconsin is either inspiring strike movements elsewhere or forcing unionized workers to ponder what they're striking for: a chance to eat crumbs off the master's table. When they should be striking for a chance to sit at the table with all their fellow workers. I believe this one was a case of the latter.

In terms of circulation of struggles: there have been somewhat spontaneous school walkouts over closures and layoffs in Dallas and Idaho

Obviously, hard to tell how much Wisconsin is effecting these, but with the amount of attention its getting wouldn't surprise me if there is some inspiration, as well as the common conditions of austerity, of course.

edit

It looks like I may have a free ride out to WI from NYC with the union I work for. They have chartered a bus and we would make it for the rally on Saturday in Madison. I am not in the IWW loop, so I will PM the appropriate folks.

Excited!

Yup it was Rumsfeld who said that to his critics about the state of the US army preparations in the middle of a combat situation in Iraq (in particular lack of adequate kit for ground troops).[

So just where the f**k are you and your army of the 'politically clued up'?

Hmmm. So lets see. Is this the same Fox News owned by Rupert Murdochs' multi billion revenue News International Corporation? The same capitalist press owner who helped Margaret Thatchers' Tory government decisively defeat the strong holds of the British workers movement 25 odd years ago? Up against that multi billion revenue workers organisation with access to a sophisticated media network the IWW.?

Isn't it curious how far left wing armchair critics (of the 'theyre not adequite' school) pop up every time workers go into a major dispute, without clearly setting out how they would go about it. Even better, why haven't you got off your arse to do it?

These kinds of comments are not at all reasonable. They are used to try to shut someone up, to intimidate them, like shouting someone down in a meeting.

This isn't a f**ing meeting. It's an opinion on a overtly opinionated forum.

Guys, let's keep this thread productive. Argue privately please.

Any updates?

Schwarz, if you don't hear anything back, PM me and I'll try to send you in the right direction...ch

Schwarz, if you're interested in meeting up in Milwaukee that would be cool. It's about an hour away from Madison. There is a general assembly here tomorrow about how to support strikes being called by a neighborhood. It may be interesting. We may also be coming up for the weekend to participate in a discussion in Madison about how to support a General Strike.

Look, I'm not saying that we have to be some kind of political Rambo. I'm just saying that the AFL-CIO should be doing more to plan other strikes and protests around the country. Which it won't, because their leaders are more concerned with their political clout with the Democrats than with being a real union. But come on, it's them.

The same one. But when was the last time the IWW got mainstream media attention? Devil's advocate. I'm not saying I'm waiting for Marx to come back from the dead and kick Walker's ass. Also, I had no idea the IWW had that much money. You never hear from them down on the East Coast where I am.

Maybe you oughta read that post again and figure out where I said "They're not adequate" or that I don't support them. I'm saying that it's a good thing that Wisconsin is inspiring either new labor actions or a new and more revolutionary perspective in the working class. And the reason I haven't done anything substantial about it is because I'M IN THE ASS END OF NOWHERE. Not everyone can be fucking Banksy, you know. You best shape up that attitude. You're just so busy looking for a fight instead of being constructive that you have no fucking clue what to do when someone agrees with you. So you twist their words and start barking at them.

So here's some updates:

-The Democrats are being fined $100 every day that they're gone.

-There was a Wall Street Journal article that said the Dems were coming back "soon", but then they went on TV saying the WSJ article took stuff out of context and that no such plan existed.

-Yesterday, Walker indicated, through a release of emails, that he was willing to "compromise" on some aspects of collective bargaining. However, he has been accused of selectively releasing emails that make him seem more moderate than he really is.

-The once lively capitol building is now governed by a set of new rules aimed at making sure people are out by closing time and calm and quiet when they are.

-Here are some IWW General strike posters that have recently been made.

-Check out what a right-wing blog has to say about the IWW general strike call

Oh, also, I hate saying stuff before everything is concrete...in fact I don't like mentioning things till they've already happened, but it looks like I'm going to be moving up to Madison on Sunday for maybe a month primarily to help out with IWW stuff.

there is no need for that sort of tone. Please be polite.

Republicans maneuvering....

From the South Central Federation of Labor's Facebook

Retweeted by AFTWisconsin

It passed the Senate

That's a really ballsy move. Agree with above this will be a make or break point. It will be interesting if they try something similar in Indiana.

Sorry, redundant post.

For those of you on Twitter...

http://twitter.com/AndrewKroll (Journalist for Mother Jones)
http://twitter.com/danielmke (SDS/FRSO guy from Milwaukee that's been in Madison frequently)
http://twitter.com/AFTwisconsin (public sector union)
http://twitter.com/DefendWisconsin (liberal info clearinghouse)
http://twitter.com/EricAntiFa (IWW organizer)
http://twitter.com/juanconatz (me)

If I got it right - the Capitol has been re-occupied, yes...? What's going on?

From what people have been texting me or what info I've seen, there's anywhere from several hundred to a couple thousand inside the capitol with several hundred outside. Police weren't allowing people in, but eventually let the doors open for some period of time and the shut them (unsure about this). Inside, the most common chant is 'general strike'.

People have also been getting in through windows as well. Some people are 'blockading' the assembly room (where the bill would have to pass before it tomorrow or Friday) and singing Solidarity Forever.

Live stream here: http://www.livestream.com/theuptake

Thanks Juan, keep us in the loop and good luck with your move.

is it true about the calls for a general strike?

We in New Zealand faced a similar thing in 1991, when the National Government introduced the Employments Contract Act: essentially individualising contracts. The fight was lost because the popular protests were co-opted and damped by the trade-unions.

From 'The Myth Of Passivity':

and...

I post this so that you guys may learn from our failures, and to be wary of union bureaucracy trying to manage the protests into acceptable forms....