It's impossible not to think about the success of mass demonstrations in Egypt as the template through which to view what's going on in Wisconsin -- and now spreading to Ohio and Illinois -- where thousands are rallying against the conservatives' attempts to strip collective bargaining rights from labor unions for state workers. In Madison, WI, 30,000 people came to the capital to protest.
The entire Democratic caucus of the legislature got on a bus and left the state, now encamped in a motel in Illinois, to avoid letting the legislature reach a quorum to pass this legislation. As someone put it, "[The Republicans] are trying to erase 60 years of tradition in one week" by a hurry-up passage of this bill.
Tim Kaine and the Democratic Party, as well as the organizers of Obama's re-election campaign, are helping to rally the crowds to protest these anti-labor measures.
There's been talk of whether they can use the state troopers to force the Democrats to come to the state capitol -- which is why they left the state. This is the same tactic used by Democratic state senators in Texas in 2003 to delay a vote on a redistricting plan by leaving the state and spending a month in New Mexico. The Republicans eventually prevailed, however.
Interesting protest movements in the Mid-West echoing the Mid-East.
Ralph
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment