Alas, We're Not in Athens...

Recent Protest in Athens

According to witnesses, more than 40,000 people mobilized in Athens to protest austerity measures that raise taxes, cut salaries, slashed pensions and put health benefits out of reach. Their current unemployment rate is over 16%. Police hid behind steel barricades and used tear gas to try and disperse the angry citizenry.

Here, judges were at work on both sides of the struggle. Justice James Ware struck down the ridiculous and fallacious notion that he should have recused himself from the proposition 8 decision due solely  to the fact he is a gay man in a long-term relationship. Ware is an African-American who immediately recognized the civil rights implications of this type of "reasoning."

However, in Wisconsin the state Supreme Court ruled that Judge Maryann Sumi overstepped her authority by throwing out the late night, Republicans only vote for governor Scott Walker's bill stripping workers of collective bargaining rights. As it now stands public workers, except for police and firefighters, will undergo pay cuts that average about 8% of their salaries. The unions are putting together a lawsuit based on the fact that the bill illegally discriminates between classes of employees for the soul purpose of political payback.

This war against workers is not only destructive to working people but to the entire American economy. Robert Reich's article "Why the Republican War on Workers Undermines the American Economy," lays it all out there. Keep up the good work R.R.!

Fascism or Nuclear Holocaust?

Maybe we'll have both...Between Walker's walking all over the rights of the people of Wisconsin and the danger of meltdowns from Japan's earthquake and tsunami-damaged nuclear reactors, we are being Fukushima'd up down and sideways. Tractors driven by agricultural workers and the largest crowd ever, estimated at 180,000 protesters, descended on the Capitol in Madison and filled the rotunda. Deafening cries of "Shame! Shame! echoed throughout the building as Walker overrode the democratic process entirely to sign his "budget repair bill" into law. This demonstration was the first since that travesty of justice. Protesters were joined by the 14 renegade Democratic senators who had returned home in the misplaced hope that they could negotiate with the Dairyland Dictator. The well-mannered and patient demonstrators sang a few choruses of "We Shall Overcome."

An Injury to One...

"This is our Moment, Everybody up off the Couch Now!" is a quote from Michael Moore on Democracy Now where he appeared today speaking out against the abhorrent tactics used by Wisconsin governor Scott Walker to railroad through his controversial "budget repair bill." Moore galvanized both Madison and the country with his moving speech on Saturday railing against the ever-unfolding damage done to working Americans as a result of the Wall Street meltdown of 2008. But yesterday evening, March 9th, Scott Walker trampled our rights further by reworking his bill stripping workers of collective bargaining rights. He divided the old bill into two smaller parts that required only a simple majority, instead of a quorum, to pass. With the Democratic 14 still out of state, it took only minutes to pass this totalitarian, draconian piece of pseudo-legislation with only one dissenting vote.  So, T(yranny) Party faithful, Walker pulled a fast one on the people of Wisconsin and the people of the USA. While the legality of his move remains to be decided in a court of law, the ramifications of his undemocratic action are already underway.

A recent, similar bill in Michigan, not only strips bargaining rights but makes it legal for the governor or his designated representatives to appoint an "emergency financial manager" who would have nearly unlimited financial power over decisions ranging from workers' contracts to the running of school districts and the removal of elected city officials.

Even my home state, Ohio, has passed a union-busting bill that eliminated the ability of public sector workers to bargain for health care, pay raises and seniority issues, plus mandates a fine or jail time for workers who go out on strike.

All this is happening under the auspices of "budget repair." While there is an unhealthy dose of  Naomi Klein's "Shock Doctrine" philosophy in this strategy, eliminating the power of unions is a major, financial stepping stone to defeating Obama in 2012. After the inappropriately named, Citizens United decision, (stating that for purposes of political fundraising, corporations can be perceived as individuals thereby giving them license to buy government elections) the unions are the last source of significant amounts of capital available to the left.

Since these developments, the State House in Madison has been flooded with people who are resuming their campout. Saturday, the agricultural workers will be riding their tractors into Madison and I'm betting that they will have lots of company. Those of us in the rest of the country need to get off our butts as well and make our presence known in our respective states and cities. This is our moment, there may not be another. See you in the streets!

La Lucha Continua...

Today in Wisconsin the AFL-CIO endorsed a general strike on the day Walker signs his "budget repair bill." The last massive and successful general strike in the US occurred in San Francisco in 1934. It was started by longshoremen but grew to include all workers, union and non-union.

Democratic lawmakers in Indiana have followed the example of their Wisconsin colleagues and fled to avoid a quorum on a "right to work for lower wages" bill. Today, February 22, protestors are on all floor of the State Capitol building in Indianapolis. And all the legislators have fled to the state of Illinois. Will there be a hot time in the old town tonight, Chicago?

A major protest is being organized in Columbus Ohio to fight against proposed anti-labor legislation there.

This New American Struggle for Justice is catching fire in a country reeling from job losses, foreclosures and being robbed blind by Wall Street thugs who recieve handsome rewards for their graft and extortion. Click here for the latest updates on the situation and here for data compiled by Mother Jones illustrating the growing abyss of economic inequality in third-world America.

Class War in Wisconsin

Mubarak of the Midwest

Onward street fighters in the state of cheese! Mubarak of the Midwest, Scott Walker, is determined to bring Republican, T-Party style (that's Tyranny Party in case you didn't know) martial law and authoritarian government to our new third-world economy with his refusal to negotiate on anything short of the elimination of collective bargaining rights. Middle class, Sorry I hardly knew ye! Yes, we may not win but at least now we are not lying in the road waiting for the steamroller. Keep on keepin' on sisters and brothers, the rest of the country is rooting for you.

Read more here: Invitation to Class War,
AFL/CIO--Wisconsin is about every worker

The War on Workers Escalates

The Streets of Madison

Wisconsin has declared war on public sector employees, more specifically on their unions. The voracious Republican beast won't be satisfied until we are all homeless and out on the streets. Scott Walker has become the Hosni Mubarak of Wisconsin leading the call to arms, trying to mobilize private and public sectors workers against each other.
He is even trying divide and conquer from within by offering to exempt police and firefighters (often the highest paid group) from his draconian proposals.

 This battle has been fermenting quite a while. In the last election the people of San Francisco defeated, by a large margin, proposition B, a proposal by public defender Jeff Adachi to charge workers more for health care and cut into the benefits of the most underpaid.

The Streets of Cairo

In Wisconsin Walker is trying to eliminate collective bargaining, the raison d'etre for unions, completely. Fortunately, the people of Wisconsin are fighting back. With 30,000 in the streets yesterday, Madison is beginning to look, not quite Cairo, but definitely a bit like Bahrain.Instead of pulling down everyone to the lowest possible level, we should be struggling to improve the quality of all our lives.