Time to be the Wisconsin You Want to See in the World

Protests continue in Wisconsin, over their governor's attempt to bust the unions, with both the police and firefighters joining in. Gary Younge writes in the UK Guardian: Wisconsin is making the battle lines clear in America's hidden class war

The Washington Post believes that Governor Walker is walking a tightrope, and should be attempting to work with the unions, instead of engaging in combat. Rob Ford could learn something from this.

Good relationships between employees and their employer are crucial for the long-term success of an organization, including a government. By conducting the present budget negotiations transparently and respectfully, Governor Walker could have laid the foundation for many years of balanced state budgets, without destroying the relationship between the state and its employees. Especially pernicious is his insistence on limiting collective bargaining rights even after unions have agreed to his proposals. This is political bravado; Walker is more concerned with earning headlines than actual policy reform.

Obama is backing the workers, sorta', kinda'

David Climenhaga gives us the views from Canada's own Tea Party, as presented by the Calgary School's Barry Cooper. A wannabe Straussian.

Political scientist Barry Cooper, another of the academics employed by the so-called Calgary School at the University of Calgary, has written an article for the Calgary Herald lambasting public employees for everything from Canada's economic woes to the fall of Rome. Cooper bases his fanciful screed on a report by something called the Frontier Centre for Public Policy, which he refers to as "a feisty Winnipeg think-tank."

When not insulting public employees with allegations of "laziness," "extortion" and an apparently powerful and sneaky thirst for taxpayer-subsidized alcohol, the publicly employed University of Calgary teacher rightly points out that the Frontier Centre's attack on public sector wage increases has been widely reported in the mainstream media.

The Frontier Centre has about as much credibility as the Fraser Institute, or any of the other taxpayer funded think tanks that prop up the Harper government. His own mother would be less biased.

But given that the "thinkers" are spreading their nonsense around the media - unions bad, Harper good, ugh!, we are obviously being softened on any notion of a middle class revolt.

Too bad for Harper and Cooper that Canadians will be walking like Egyptians next election.

The Progressive Revolution Continues. Now in Pennsylvania

I think the Left has finally found their voice. From Egypt to Wisconsin to Pennsylvania, the progressives are fighting back. Noam Chomsky says: Only a Massive Uprising Will Change Our Politics. He's right and I think it's coming.

The UK Guardian has an excellent column by Ewen MacAskill : US left finds it voice over Wisconsin attack on union rights. State capitol building under occupation as tens of thousands turn out for biggest demonstrations since the Vietnam war.

Proudly displayed in a corner window of the Barriques coffee shop, a block from Wisconsin's state capitol building, is a poster advocating Workers of the World Unite – not the kind of sign normally seen in shops in America.

But the last fortnight has been unusual. Tens of thousands have been turning out in this normally quiet midwest city for the biggest demonstrations in the US since the Vietnam war, and the state capitol building is under occupation day and night. After a year dominated by the Tea Party, the American left has found its voice, and a cause, united against a bill backed by the state's Republican governor, Scott Walker, to neuter public sector unions.

This has been so long coming. There is talk of a rally on Parliament Hill, similar to the anti-prorogation rallies of a year ago. I'll keep you updated if I hear more.

Preston Manning is weighing in, poor dear, pretending to understand grassroots movements. The Reformers were corporate sponsored AstroTurfers, much like the U.S. Tea Party. They only posed as populist. Even his Manning Centre was started with a ten million dollar "anonymous" corporate donation. Who is he trying to kid?

But a change is 'gonna come. I can feel it in my bones.

An Amazing Preacher Gives the Religious Right a Lesson on the Bible

The wonderful Reverend Curt Anderson of Wisconsin has an op-ed piece in the Huffington Post, that should put all members of the Religious Right/Conservative/Tea Party group to shame.

Because they have joined the ranks of the corporate world, labelling workers as "greedy" and the unemployed as "lazy", when they should go back to the roots of their faith and remember that the Bible and other religious texts, are critical of the wealthy and business elite who wear their riches and power as a cloak of privilege.

Reverend Anderson explains why he is in support of the workers in Wisconsin, because it's what the Bible tells him to do.

My name is Curt Anderson. I am the Senior Minister at First Congregational United Church of Christ in Madison, Wisconsin; and I am on the Board of the Interfaith Coalition for Worker Justice of South Central Wisconsin. There is one theme that is constant throughout the Bible. In Deuteronomy, we read: "You shall not withhold the wages of poor and needy laborers, whether your own people or aliens who reside in your land." In Jeremiah: "Woe to him who makes his neighbors work and does not give them their wages."

There is nothing fair about the governor of Wisconsin's proposal to virtually eliminate collective bargaining for public workers and unilaterally force public employees to start paying for health insurance and contributing to their pensions. This has been proposed without consultation, without bargaining, without even any concept of shared sacrifice.

There are no provisions to close tax loopholes that benefit corporations. There are no proposals to consider even minor tax increases for the wealthiest members of our state. There are no proposals to restructure Wisconsin's income tax system, where the wealthiest sometimes pay a lower percentage of their income in taxes than middle-class working families.

Interfaith groups like KAIROS, Anderson's group, Interfaith Coalition for Worker Justice, and others, demand social justice. The Religious Right that Stephen Harper has camped out on Parliament Hill represent the very worst in religion, and the reason why so many end up rejecting the Church. They advocate for greed and you don't have to be religious to know that that is just wrong.

Jim Flaherty recently announced that he will be spending $6.5 million to advertise his government's tax policies as helping Canadians. What won't be included in this taxpayer funded blitz, is the fact that taxes only went down for the wealthy, while Canada's working class have seen an increase.

The protests in Wisconsin are growing, with tens of thousands taking to the streets in solidarity. In a desperate measure they tried to shut down the worker's website, but they are not deterred, and polls show overwhelming support for the workers.

And in Indiana where the Republican government is also trying to push through a union busting agenda, the Democrats have left the state, to avoid having it passed. This is the people fighting back and it's about damn time.

Let's hope we can inspire the same kind of movement in Canada. Where religious organizations, unions, advocacy groups and all Canadians not in support of the Corporate Welfare State, will march together. We are in a unique situation now with an election on the horizon.

A time when our voices can become the loudest.

Libyan Army Officers Urging Soldiers to Stand With Protesters

As rumours abound that Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi has fled the country, the military officers are now encouraging their soldiers to fight with the people.

I haven't seen anything like this since the civil rights movement of the 1960's.

A change is gonna' come.

Stephen Harper is urging the Libyan government to stop attacking the demonstrators. How hypocritical. Does he forget his G-20 fiasco? He needs to just sit down and shut up.

This is a people's movement and he is not people.

We are lucky in Canada that we won't have to resort to bloodshed to oust our dictator. We will do it with an election.

The UK Guardian is wondering where Gaddafi will be exiled. With all of the peoples' movement across the globe, there will be fewer friendly nations.

This is the Wiki generation, tired of media spin and corrupt governments. Tired of being told that corporations come before citizens. The Social Welfare State against the Corporate Welfare State.

This is very exhilarating.

UPDATE: Also Libyan officials.

The Conservatives Don't Have to Worry About Michael Ignatieff in the Next Election. They Have to Worry About Us

Polls are indicating that Stephen Harper will at least win another minority in the upcoming, hopefully soon, election. But history has proven time and again that polls taken outside of an election campaign mean less than nothing.

As James Travers said recently:

Some conclusions roll too easily off political tongues. One echoing around the capital this winter is that an election now won’t change much. Possibly true, the assumption is almost certainly false. Campaigns matter and the next will matter more than most.

Beyond tossing red meat to diehard Conservatives, depressing opposition support helps explain the party’s current nasty advertising campaign. Framing Michael Ignatieff as a self-serving dilettante who dissed Canada from a distance is the kind of message that might well disillusion the same voters who stayed home rather than vote for the last Liberal leader Conservatives savaged, Stéphane Dion. Potentially decisive, that strategy to maximize the efficiency of the Conservative vote comes with a risk factor. Harper could inadvertently lower expectations to the point where Ignatieff in person proves to be a comparative surprise.

Ignatieff is accountable for foolish things said abroad. Still, there’s more to becoming prime minister than selective quotes. After all, Canadians forgot or forgave Harper’s divisive musings about Alberta firewalls and an Atlantic Canada culture of defeatism.

The other problem is that we have heard it so much that we've built up an immunity. We're more concerned with Harper selling us to the Americans, and allowing Wall Street to infiltrate our once sound banking industry, than Ignatieff teaching at Harvard for five years.

But there is something else that is being largely ignored. The power of the people.

Prior to Stephen Harper's last self-serving prorogation, he was ahead by 10 points in the polls. But the ease with which Canadians could be rallied in protest, showed an underlying distrust and anger. It is still there, because we got no closure, only talking points.

And what we see in Egypt, Wisconsin, and indeed across the globe, is an underlying discontent with corporate run governments, police brutality (like we saw at the G-20 by Harper's hired goons) and corruption. There is a mass "fighting back" movement that will make it's way here. I can feel it.

Sarah Van Gelder says on Rabble:

The uprising that swept Tunisia, Egypt, and parts of Europe is showing signs of blossoming across the United States. In Wisconsin, public employees and their supporters are drawing the line at Governor Scott Walker's plan to eliminate collective bargaining and unilaterally cut benefits. School teachers, university students, firefighters, and others descended on the capital in the tens of thousands, and even the Superbowl champion Green Bay Packers have weighed in against the bill. Protests against similar anti-union measures are ramping up in Ohio.

And Raquel Brown:

American conservatives often profess admiration for foreign workers' bravery in protesting and undermining authoritarian regimes. Letting workers exercise their rights at home, however, threatens to undermine some of our own regimes (the Republican ones particularly) and shouldn't be permitted. Now that Wisconsin's governor has given the Guard its marching orders, we can discern a new pattern of global repressive solidarity emerging -- from the chastened pharaoh of the Middle East to the cheese-head pharaoh of the Middle West.

There are cracks in the armour

And from the Huffington Post a reminder that we are all Wisconsin workers: That's the way solidarity works: an injury to anyone is an injury to all. For all our sakes, the Wisconsin protests must succeed in their goal: workplace negotiation not subjugation.

- If you want a voice on the job, you're a Wisconsin worker.
-If you want your employer to pay you the benefits you earned, you're a Wisconsin worker.
- If you enjoy your weekends, you're a Wisconsin worker.
- If you value workplace safety, health care benefits, and unemployment insurance, you're a Wisconsin worker.
- If you're an elected official counting on your pension, you're a Wisconsin worker.
- If you're a non-union employee in a right to work state, you're a Wisconsin worker.
- If you're unemployed or underemployed, you're a Wisconsin worker.
-If you want a decent day's pay for an honest day's work, you are a Wisconsin worker.
- If you believe in workplace negotiation not subjugation, you're a Wisconsin worker.
- And even if you're an anti-union media pundits with an American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) union card and protections, you're a Wisconsin worker.

From Libya to China. From Wales to Mississippi. The people are fighting back, and Canada will have her day.

Because we the citizens are now the official opposition.

Tea Party Served a Tepid Brew in Wisconsin

For all of the hype about the Wisconsin protests being teabagged, the protesters ended up outnumbering the teabaggers 35 to 1. That's what they get for letting Sarah Palin drive the bus. Poor dear is still out there looking for the place, getting directions from Michele Bachmann. They'll never make it.

I wrote yesterday of how the Wisconsin firefighters were standing in solidarity with the public servants, and I love what they said:

"The reason that we are here is because it's important that labor sticks together. There was a message from the governor's office to conquer and divide...collective bargaining is not just for us, police and fire, it's good for all involved. It's a middle-class upbringing."

"When firefighters see an emergency, one thing we do is respond. And we see an emergency in the house of labor, so that's why we're here."

"Every day, if you notice, we lead the AFSCME employees, the SEIU employees, all the public sector employees into the building, because we are here to fight with them."

"Collective bargaining is not about union rights; it's about rights of workers...We ask Gov. Walker to come back and negotiate with the people, negotiate with the state workers' unions, and get things worked out, as opposed to just putting out this bill and we don't hear from him again."

"Us as firefighters, we have been exempted from this bill...There's a 5.8 percent pay into the pension, there's a 12.4 percent pay into the health care premium benefits...For the betterment of the government, for the betterment of the state, we don't mind helping to pay for that. We don't want to price ourselves out of a job. Ever. What we want to do is have a fair and equitable treatment among our members."

And now these protests are spreading to other states, and even China is a little on edge.

Yeah the people.

And another nice thing happened with these protests, perhaps inspired by the firefighters. The two sides put down their (metaphorical) weapons and talked to each other. Can you imagine political discourse without all the yelling? Be still my heart.

When the two sides in Wisconsin's bitter battle over the future of the state's unionized public employees converged on the Capitol on Saturday for dueling rallies, the fear was trouble would break out. Instead, the day was marked by a surprising civility when the shouting stopped and the one-on-one conversations began.

My favourite photo though, was tweeted from Egypt.



And on that note, it's time to get on your feet again and walk like an Egyptian (and a Wisconsin(ite?)