Author’s note:
I attended the rally in Madison on Saturday and will be in Madison covering this for the near future. Contrary to media reports, there are next to no counter-protesters. On Saturday I saw a total of three Walker supporters. The rally is peaceful, demonstrators police themselves, assist the cleanup crews with cleaning the Capitol building and grounds, and cooperate with law enforcement. The first arrest occured yesterday, but it was someone not involved in the protest who attempted to climb the Capitol building. Demonstrators tried to stop him and when he was arrested, the crowd cheered. Furthermore, this crowd is not only made up of democrats and union people. There are workers of all political affiliations, many of whom were lifelong Republicans. This demonstration truly crosses political boundries into the realm of middle class v. the rich. I encourage you to hit the link to the article and check out the slideshow and video.
Excerpt:
On Saturday, 12 days of labor demonstrations in Madison reached a new peak with the largest protest in the city since the Vietnam era (see slideshow). The ongoing protest in Madison has spurred pro-union rallies across the country in cities such as New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Honolulu, Denver, Olympia, WA, Topeka, KS, Harrisburg, PA and Columbus, OH.
An estimated 70,000 to 80,000 people showed up in Madison despite 18-degree weather with steady snowfall to rally around the capitol building and demonstrate against Governor Walker’s proposed budget bill. The bill would, among other things, strip most public employees of their right to collectively bargain through unions.
According to USA Today, Madison police spokesman Joel DeSpain said that although it is difficult to come up with a specific number, the crowd was larger than last week’s estimated 70,000. This is “definitely one of the largest and most sustained demonstrations we’ve ever seen. I’ve been around Madison for 50 years, and I have not seen anything like it so far,” he said.
Jeff Skiles, the co-pilot who helped crash land the airliner in the Hudson in January of 2009, was one of the speakers. The crowd cheered when he said, “we didn’t abandon those passengers to save themselves; we all worked together to save everybody. That’s a lesson that people in this Capitol building need to learn.”
Skiles continued, “this budget bill will strip Wisconsin public workers of the protections and rights enjoyed by other Americans. This bill will regulate public workers to second-class status in America. Are we going to let that happen?”
In unison, the crowd chanted “No!”
Skiles concluded his speech by stating, “Let’s not forget how this budget crisis came about, and let’s not let this governor and this Republican legislature shift the blame for what’s wrong with America from corporate profiteers and instead demonize our teachers, our nurses and our public-sector employees.”
A teacher from Beaver Dam took that divisional concept a step further on the public microphone inside the Capitol building when he said:
The underlying message is that ‘the people must make do with less so that Wall Street may have more.’ The politicians who answer to Wall Street are trying to trick the public into thinking that teachers are greedy, when the teachers had nothing to do with the financial ruin of the nation. It’s just classic divide and conquer; turn the public against each other while the rich reward themselves with lavish bonuses from our tax dollars. If the teachers, the repair men, the trash collectors, the road crews and other public workers lose this battle, then next it will be the police, then the firefighters, then you, then me. This, we are told will save the state budgets because if we all make less money, the state collects less taxes. Wait a moment, how is that supposed to work? This is merely one battle in a class war being waged on everyone here today. We must not get discouraged if we lose this one, because there will be many more battles to fight.
Neither the demonstrators nor Governor Walker show any signs of backing down. Wisconsin’s budget battle may continue for quite some time and the demonstrations may continue to grow and spread.
Read more, get links, video and a slideshow here: Madison Independent Examiner – Madison labor demonstration growing larger and spreading.
Good piece, Greg — it’s great to read something by someone on the ground there in Madison, and who knows the town, who isn’t part of the corporate media.
Speaking of which, last Saturday there were between 1,000 and 2,000 people in downtown Chicago demonstrating in support of the Madison workers, but you wouldn’t know it from the local media. I didn’t see even on mention of it, and I was told Sen. Dick Durbin was there. Same on CNN — they covered Madison, but didn’t say a word about the protests going on in the rest of the country. I’ve also read that the NY Times didn’t cover demonstrations happening a few blocks away from their offices. This is really shabby, even for our shabby corporate MSM. I think the Big Media were glad to cover this when it looked like Walker was going to win but, now that he’s losing and the protests are increwasing in size, it seems they’re trying to diminish the story. Can’t say I’m surprised. Gratifying to see, if nothing else, that some GOP gov.s around the country are dropping the union-busting parts of their economic restructuring bills, for now anyway. Also happy to see the Republicans committing suicide in broad daylight by pissing off many of their constituents — most firefighters and cops, for instance, used to vote GOP, but I don’t think they will be anymore.
Comment by RS Janes — March 1, 2011 @ 6:23 pm