[Peace] Fwd: The Battle for Wisconsin: Eyewitness Reports from the Front Lines / Thurs. March 3, 6pm at the YMCA

Tue Mar 1 14:22:46 CST 2011

*The Battle for Wisconsin: Eyewitness Reports from the Front Lines*
Thursday, March 3, 6 PM
University YMCA, 1001 S. Wright St.
Wahl Room

Hundreds of thousands of workers and students have descended on Madison,
Wisconsin over the past two weeks for protests, rallies, and an ongoing
occupation of the state capitol building to fight Gov. Scott Walker's
draconian attacks on collective bargaining rights. Come hear from graduate
students and undergraduates returning from the front lines of the struggle.

Speakers include:
**Leighton Christiansen*, Officer-at-Large, Graduate Employees Organization

**Zack Poppel*, Graduate Employees Organization

**Rebecca Marcotte*, Undergraduate-Graduate Alliance, International
Socialist Organization

AND
**A Live call-in via skype from a Wisconsin public sector worker.*

*Organizations are listed for purposes of identification only. Forum
sponsored by the International Socialist Organization. This event is part of
the Graduate Employees Organization 24/7 vigil in solidarity with Wisconsin
workers. Call 415-713-6260 or email iso.champaign at gmail.com for more info.
______________________________________________________________________________
 Lethal Injustice: Standing against the death penalty and harsh punishment
Monday, March 7, 5:30 PM
Greg Hall R. 223 (southwest corner of the quad)

 **
*A speaking tour organized by the Campaign to End the Death Penalty to look
at what’s behind our massive prison build-up, why so many people of color
are locked up and what we can do about it*.

 *From death rows to super-maxes, over 2.3 million men and women sit behind
bars today. "Lethal Injustice" speakers are organizing on the front-lines of
the fight against criminal injustice, taking a stand against the racist
prison build-up and harsh sentencing. *

*This national speaking tour will be featuring panelists including,
exonerated prisoners, family members, activists, lawyers and scholars*.

Local Speakers include:

**Mark Clements* - former police torture victim, sentenced to life without
parole as a juvenile

**Darby Tillis*--Illinois' first exonerated death row prisoner

****Randi Jones-Hensley*--Campaign to End the Death Penalty
Local sponsors include the International Socialist Organization (ISO),
Minority Association of Future Attorneys (MAFA) and Champaign-Urbana
Citizens for Peace and Justice (CUCPJ).

For more information about the tour, including the full lineup of speakers,
visit
http://www.nodeathpenalty.org/events/lethal-injustice-standing-against-death-penalty-and-harsh-punishment-0.
For
more info about the local event, call 415-713-6260 or email
iso.champaign at gmail.com
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

http://socialistworker.org/2011/02/28/taste-of-our-power-madison

    Comment: Leighton Christiansen
A taste of our power in Madison

Leighton Christiansen, an officer at large in the Graduate Employees
Organization at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, describes
the scene in Wisconsin.

February 28, 2011

[image: The "family space" for kids set up inside the Wisconsin capitol
building (Julie Fain | SW)]

The "family space" for kids set up inside the Wisconsin capitol building
(Julie Fain | SW)

I HAD the opportunity to spend a day in Madison, Wis., participating in the
occupation of the Wisconsin State Capitol, as tens of thousands of Wisconsin
union members, unorganized workers, students and citizens protested against
a "budget repair bill" introduced by Gov. Scott Walker.

The bill would gut collective bargaining and other union rights, and would
force wage, pension and health benefit concessions, among other measures.
The effect will be to destroy unions and worsen the suffering of working
people in Wisconsin.

The first thing you notice in Madison is the mood. I've had the opportunity
in the past to spend time in Madison, organizing and protesting, but the
mood is different now. Walking up State Street with my "Kill the Bill" sign
in hand, I was among dozens of folks walking to and from the Capitol
building. Most of them had signs of their own, supporting the fight against
the bill.

And while I'm used to Midwesterners being polite, everyone had a smile for
me and a "hello"--and when they found out I was from out of town, a "thank
you." Having been an "outside agitator" for 25 years now, I am used to a
somewhat different reaction.

At every corner while waiting for the light to change, or in front of any
bar with a TV in its window, people are gathered, talking about the Walker
bill, how if would affect them and their co-workers and families, and what
to do about it. On one corner, a group of firefighters were standing with
their signs, passing traffic honking in support. Every shop window along
State Street has a sign or signs against the bill and supporting Wisconsin's
workers. Nearly ever corner had a small gathering of picketers or at least a
street orator--and folks listening.

When I got to the Capitol, there were pickets walking every sidewalk around
the building. During the 1980s and 1990s, I walked a number of picket lines
in solidarity with workers around the Midwest, including in Janesville, Wis.
Those picket lines often had a dark mood, as workers fought a losing battle,
hoping at best to take no cuts.

The Wisconsin picketers are mad as hell at Walker, but smiling and laughing
among themselves, joyous in the creative energy folks are putting into this
fight. You would never have known that it was drizzling and 30 degrees.

When I walked up to the Capitol doors with my sign, the state trooper there
looked me in the eye and asked, "How are you today?"--and was actually
interested in the answer. I was surprised. But I learned that the state
troopers, police, firefighters and even prison guards, who tend to be the
most right-wing members of AFSCME in Wisconsin, are taking part in the
protests.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

INSIDE THE Capitol, I find thousands of people, even on a Wednesday
afternoon. While not the tens of thousands of the weekend, the energy was
high. Workers and family members surrounded the rotunda on three floors,
holding signs, listening to speakers at the bottom of the well, chanting
"Tell me what does democracy look like? THIS is what democracy looks like!"
and "Kill the Bill."

Numerous unions are present or have left signs behind from earlier visits:
AFSCME, Teaching Assistants' Association, Teamsters, Steelworkers, American
Federation of Teachers, Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the
Pipefitters, UNITE HERE, Union de Trabajadores Inmigrantes, National Nurses
United, the Sheet Metal Workers, and many more.

There are solidarity signs from workers in Michigan. Everywhere are signs
linking the struggle in Madison to the struggle in Egypt. There are signs
showing solidarity from Wisconsin with the people of Libya, fighting to
overthrow their dictator Qaddafi.

And of course, pizza boxes are ubiquitous. The outpouring of solidarity has
meant that the occupiers and protesters have not gone hungry. A local pizza
place is only supplying orders for the Capitol occupation--city residents
will either have to wait until the protests are over, or go to the Capitol
and occupy if they want a slice from this shop.

But for the "Cheddar Revolution," the supplies of food aren't the problem.
Around various of the building, there are tables of food and stacks of
bottled water flats, although at this points fresh fruits and vegetables
would be welcome. I find out from occupation organizers that hand sanitizer
and socks are the greater need (Click here if you would like to
help<http://www.defendwisconsin.org/2011/02/21/local-business-send-supplies>
).

Organizers tell me they are amazed by the community spirit of the
protesters. Martina and Molly, members of the TAA, share their awe and
appreciation of protesters using their various skills to help make the
occupation a community. "Someone put up food safety signs--who would think
of that?" Martina wonders. Some other folks set up a first aid station,
which occupation organizers had not thought of.

We often speak of the creativity and energy of the working class and their
ability to run workplaces or society democratically and without bosses...and
in Madison, we are seeing that energy and those talents unleashed.

Everywhere, there is a sense of collective power. But at 4 p.m., when three
busloads of union members and activists from Los Angeles--people who would
have been on a bus at least 24 hours to get to Madison--march into the
rotunda, the occupiers go wild. Chants and cheers fill the rotunda until you
can feel the pressure of the sound. Back-thumping and fist-bumping, hugs and
tears follow the LA contingent as they march around each floor of the
Capitol.

We see banners and jackets and shirts and signs from the Communications
Workers of America, International Longshore Workers Union, Teamsters, United
Food and Commercial Workers, AFSCME, the area AFL-CIO, and many others. This
solidarity celebration lasts for 15 or 20 minutes, and the energy carries
into the regular 5 p.m. rally held for folks coming in after work.

Inside the Capitol, there are numerous conversations about the way forward,
about what an ass Walker is, and laughter about the prank phone call that
captured how arrogant he is when he thought he was talking to one of his big
backers. Signs call for negotiations, since the unions have agreed to wage
cuts. Others say, "Kill the WHOLE Bill." This is the big question of the
Madison protests: What ending are we willing to accept?

Some Wisconsin union leaders have already said they would accept the wage
and benefit cuts in the Walker budget bill, as long as collective bargaining
rights are protected for public employees. But this stance has been the
30-year practice of private-sector union leaders in the U.S., in auto, in
trucking and other industries.

While this strategy has for the most part protected the jobs of union
leaderships and bureaucracies, what do workers have to show for it? Fewer
unionized jobs, lower wages, and more expensive benefits. Private sector
unionization is at a century-long low, at 7.2 percent. Living standards are
declining for the working class. And we know from talking to Wisconsin
workers that if these cuts go through, working union members may be forced
to sell their homes, go bankrupt and go on assistance just to live.

This can be avoided if we can kill the *whole* bill. This was the mood of
most of the scores of protesters I talked to while passing out the "Why We
Demands No Cuts" statement that Madison International Socialist
Organization<http://iso-madison.blogspot.com/>members, many of them
public-sector workers, released. The show of power in
Madison also led Wisconsin's South Central Federation of Labor (SCFL) to
call for a national general strike if the bill
passes<http://socialistworker.org/2011/02/22/madison-labor-raises-the-stakes>
.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

FOLKS IN Wisconsin are starting to figure out how to harness their energy
and make this a more sustainable fight. Teachers in some districts are using
rolling sickouts that don't shut down the whole district, but still allow
for a strong union presence at the Capitol. Unions are also taking turns
occupying the Capitol overnight with the TAA, a sort of rolling sleep-in.
Unions such as the SEIU are preparing to send full-time organizers to
Wisconsin to beef up the campaign to kill the bill.

The uprising in Madison has inspired workers in Ohio to protest against
similar bills. The action has forced other Republican leaders, such as in
Indiana, to pull back from similar union killing measures.

The organized power of the U.S. working class *can* stop these attacks--but
only if we make sure our leaders don't accept a compromise. The momentum is
on our side in Wisconsin. This isn't the time to settle for half an attack
on our rights, for half of a murderous bill. We can stop the whole bill and
turn back this attack.

Show your solidarity with workers in Wisconsin and around the country. Send
messages of support and solidarity. Stand against similar measures in your
state. Get in the car or on the bus or on the plane and come to Madison. It
is true that U.S. labor history is being written in Madison, and this is a
movement you should be a part of.

The one-sided nature of the class war of the last 35 years is coming to an
end. Just as the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt are inspiring populations
across the Arab world to fight back, they inspired workers in Madison. And
the occupation in Madison is having an effect across the U.S.

Come to Madison, get a taste of collective power, and take it home to your
struggles. You will be changed. And this is the change that we need.

See you in Madison.
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