To our Chicago friends and allies,
This is a plea from three of your comrades who have been witness to the events in Wisconsin.
Since the day Hosni Mubarak fell half a world away, fast-developing events in Madison, only 2.5 hours northwest of Chicago, have combined to produce what the three of us agree is the most important political struggle happening at the moment, certainly in the United States, and one of the most important in the world. Further, this is unlike anything else we've seen in our lifetimes, in terms of the diversity of constituencies mobilized, the palpable anger on display, and the underlying movement dynamic.
A slumbering labor movement and public have arisen in Wisconsin and have mobilized tens of thousands of people, in self-organized groups, without central leadership, and in successive waves of independently initiated actions that have surprised and even shocked all involved. The degrees of self-organization and displays of solidarity are heartwarming, inspiring, and on all levels impressive, whether that's the three exempted unions standing firm with those under attack, the thousands of high school students walking out, or the parents w/children who slept overnight in the Capitol. The fourteen Wisconsin Senate Democrats who fled the state and are holding up the vote on the budget repair bill would not have had the courage to take this action had it not been for the three days of momentum early on, before any non-Wisconsin media took notice. The two-week occupation of the State Capital and massive demonstrations, some exceeding 100,000 people, have earned this movement a distinction not often granted to the left these days: this is about average, ordinary Americans, the highly educated, the poor, the retired, the children, the students, the police and firefighters, everybody; this is without a doubt one of the largest and most significant US labor struggles of the past fifty years.
Despite this massive upsurge in activism, Governor Walker has not budged on his positions and the corporate media has unleashed a storm of anti-union rhetoric and distortions of the protest movement that can only be described as Orwellian. At this moment it is hard to tell how these events will unfold. Recall movements are under way and calls for walkouts, strikes, and a potential general strike loom if Walker’s bill passes. The stakes for both sides are incredibly high. If the working people accept a defeat in Wisconsin, the GOP will have essentially wiped out fifty years of labor gains, landed a crushing defeat on working people that will usher in an era of privatization unleashed and a complete dismantling of all public programs. The unemployment numbers that follow will make the present look tame by comparison. This power grab by corporate money will, if allowed to stand, all but guarantee a collapse of the white middle class, and heap further suffering on the poor, which as usual will be disproportionately female, young, immigrant, and of color.
The month of March will be key. On April 5 there is a statewide election for Wisconsin Supreme Court. This is will be considered a referendum on Walker. A sitting conservative judge is being challenged by a Madison environmental lawyer, with a current 4-3 conservative majority at stake. If we can keep Walker embattled at the Capitol throughout the month, leading up to that election, we will help Kloppenburg challenge Prosser (who will of course have all the corporate muscle behind him). Again, as with this whole struggle, the election will be decided by Wisconsin voters, but the results will have national and international implications.
In between then and now there are many, many unknowns. Rumors swirl daily. The union leadership is not militant; they are being driven by the rank and file. The politicians will only follow the grassroots lead. The struggle over the public space of the Capitol building remains unresolved and changes daily. Walker's threats–to call out the National Guard, to start firing state workers in waves, etc–are piling up; he'll be forced to carry out one of them sooner or later. But we can't wait around for things to shake out; what we've learned since Feb 14 is, we have to do the shaking, as best as we know how. We need to support the development of a mass movement, one that unites people and the issues at stake - Economic Rights, G.I. Rights, Immigrant Rights, and Worker Rights.
We send this to you because in Chicago we have a community of friends, activists, and artists with talent, brains, mutual trust, and consciousness. Our plea is an invitation for you to focus your primary attention towards the labor struggles in Wisconsin and other Midwestern states and to get involved in any way possible; to find ways to represent the communities you are already working in this struggle. We ask you to broadcast this movement through your networks, and we ask you in particular to consider traveling to other cities when large protests are called for—especially Madison, where the mini-Mubarak of the Midwest resides, where he is indeed feeling the wrath of the public, and, it must be said, where exhaustion is setting in after nearly three weeks of daily and nightly demonstrations. Finally, should the “Budget Repair Bill” pass in Wisconsin, your energy, creativity, and presence will be urgently needed. Already plans for campus occupations, strikes, and a general strike are being discussed. Mutual aid, solidarity, and civil disobedience will become essential. Let’s hope that we can defeat the GOP-corporate attack on working class people in the coming days, weeks, and months before these more urgent measures become necessary.
Nicolas Lampert
Aaron Hughes
Dan Wang
Events listings:
http://www.defendwisconsin.org/
http://lists.madimc.org/~infoshop/index.html
http://www.wiafscme.org/index.cfm?action=cat&categoryID=559E3C78-738E-42A6-9DCD-C174522891BA
Excellent up to the moment reporting:
http://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/03/9944/live-reporting-wisconsin-protests
Unions/activist organizations:
http://wisconsinwave.org/events
Iraq Veterans Against the War statement of solidarity:
http://www.ivaw.org/blog/we-are-public-employees-too
Nicolas on the Justseeds blog:
http://www.justseeds.org/blog/2011/02/posters_in_support_of_wisconsi_1.html
http://www.justseeds.org/blog/2011/03/solidarity_now_join_the_protes.html
http://www.justseeds.org/blog/2011/02/occupied_for_labor.html
http://www.justseeds.org/blog/2011/03/be_prepared_for_the_general_st.html
http://www.justseeds.org/blog/2011/03/realpolitik_in_the_wood_violet.html
Dan’s reports:
http://prop-press.typepad.com/blog/2011/03/from-madison-third-report.html
http://prop-press.typepad.com/blog/2011/02/second-report-on-the-wisconsin-movement.html
http://prop-press.typepad.com/blog/2011/02/report-from-day-five-first-chance-to-reflect.html
Madison papers:
Bill Lueders on “Scott Walker’s War”:
Alternet article on boycotting the Koch Brothers
