Madison Protests - Socialists (Video)

This video provides some perspective on those protesting in Madison.

There are factions participating that are interested in dramatic revolution.

Socialists are seizing the opportunity to press their anti-capitalist agenda. They're going far beyond showing support and maintaining allegiance to unions. They're engaging in a movement to change our economic system in America.

We've reported on campaigns for social change and economic justice in the U.S. and around the world--from the movement against South African apartheid in the 1980s to the one against Israel's apartheid against Palestinians today; from the soldiers' resistance in Iraq and Afghanistan to the LGBT movement for equality, and much more.

SocialistWorker.org is committed not only to reporting from the front lines of these struggles, but to providing a forum for discussion and debate of the political questions facing activists.

We also seek to present a socialist analysis of world news and events, and to keep alive the rich and too-often-hidden history of working-class struggle and the socialist tradition. You'll find left-wing and Marxist analyses of important questions of the day from a broad range of voices on the left.

Video.



From SocialistWorker.org:

Read "Time to show our power."

Read "Class war in Wisconsin." It gives an account of how Wisconsin Dem Senator Chris Larson and his Dem colleagues were "assisted" out of the Capitol to flee the state.

Democratic state Sen. Chris Larson's exit from the Capitol was assisted by dozens of protesters who blocked his office with a sit-in midday February 17. Earlier, that same group--teachers, students, some building trades workers--scuffled repeatedly with Republican state senators and their staffers for two hours as they tried to reach the senate chambers through a nearby back staircase.

"It was the most militant action I've been involved in for a long time," said Shaun Harkin, a Chicago-based socialist and activist. "The woman leading began chanting, 'This is class war.' The guy next to me said, 'She's a kindergarten teacher.' We locked arms and sang, 'Solidarity Forever.'"

The sit-in outside Larson's office was a preview of a much bigger action a couple hours later outside the senate chambers. Although word had circulated that the Senate Democrats were safely out of state, protesters weren't taking any chances.

Anticipating the possibility that state troopers could seize control of an elevator located near a side entrance to the chamber, hundreds of students from the University of Wisconsin and area high schools and middle schools jammed the area. A large man in a United Steelworkers jacket made a point of putting himself between the elevator and the door--and got a large cheer of appreciation from those nearby.

At the same time, those blocking the main senate chamber entrance led the thousands of people in the Capitol in chants--"This is what democracy looks like!" "People power" and "Union power." With protesters covering the Capitol floor and all three circular balconies, the chants at times made normal conversation impossible.

...[T]he one-sided class war is over. Unions in Wisconsin are fighting back--and they're doing so across union lines that have traditionally divided and weakened them. Around the Capitol, it's common to hear conversations from veteran unionists that they'd never seen anything like this from the labor movement--and they couldn't be happier.

But the struggle is far from over--and despite the powerful mobilizations, victory is by no means assured in Wisconsin. Walker has a Republican majority in both houses of the legislature to rely on if he can get a vote. "If this passes, it's going to be nationwide" said Dahnert, the highway worker. "You're going to see the quality of life go way down."

Asked if that means workers have to be prepared to escalate their action, he said: "I believe that's the only choice we have."

Make no mistake about it, the socialists taking part in the protests in Madison view this as much more than opposing Governor Walker's budget repair plan. They're at war with capitalism. They're militant and prepared to escalate their action.

Read "Solidarity City."

Elizabeth Schulte and Lee Sustar report on the outpouring of support for Wisconsin public-sector unions--and a debate over continuing the occupation of the state Capitol.

...Outside the Capitol, workers, students and families marched in contingents large and small, in what even police called the largest day of demonstrations yet against Walker's assault. Inside the building--which has been occupied by workers and students for nearly two weeks--protesters are also in control.

At the end of Sunday evening, there was a threat to the movement as police prepared to clear the building. But protesters maintained their occupation inside the Capitol--thanks to hundreds of activists who refused to heed calls by some movement leaders to surrender the site. The police backed down from threatened arrests.

"Occupation"?

Sounds like a military operation.

The socialists believe they won a significant battle by not being removed from the Capitol on Sunday.

It appears they believe they're winning their war against capitalism as well.

These people are really radical. They're extremists.

WHERE THE struggle goes next is anybody's guess. The loss of the Capitol would be a major setback. It would deprive the movement of its focus, energy and organizing center and make it easier for Walker to pressure Senate Democrats into coming back to Madison and making a deal at the unions' expense.

Keeping the occupation going, by contrast, allows the movement to continually draw new people into activity, engage them in political debate, and further the organizational reach of the movement.

The other key question is whether unions are prepared to use the muscle that they showed from the beginning of the fight, when teacher sick-ins shut down schools in Madison and across the state. Walker's hard-line stance on NBC's Meet the Press--in which he insisted that he was unmoved by the protests--will only raise the pressure on the unions.

Yet despite the splendid show of union power on Saturday, labor leaders have already agreed to Walker's demands for higher employee contributions on health care and pensions--as long as he agrees to maintain collective bargaining and allow the collection of dues that sustains the union apparatus. In other words, union leaders are willing to call for militant job actions to protect their own economic wellbeing, but not that of the membership.

That contradiction has rankled many union activists, who are frustrated that officials don't fully challenge Walker's claim that workers must make sacrifices to help close state budget deficits.

For that reason, National Nurses United organized a February 27 forum at the Madison Labor Temple on the theme of rejecting any more concessions for workers. Speakers included Jim Cavanaugh, president of the South Central Federation of Labor; J. Eric Cobb, executive director of the Building Trades Council of South Central Wisconsin; nurse Jan Rodolfo, national outreach coordinator of National Nurses United; Jesse Sharkey, vice president of the Chicago Teachers Union; and John Nichols, a writer for The Nation magazine. About 60 union members and supporters attended and agreed to keep organizing against all anti-worker cuts in Wisconsin and across the U.S.

Whether or not working people in Wisconsin agree that concessions to Walker are necessary, they recognize that this is a fight not just for members of public-sector unions, but all workers. At the mass rally on February 26, there was a widespread sentiment that the stakes are high.

The lib media are running with the narrative that Governor Walker and the Republicans aren't really concerned about the budget. The Dem mouthpieces are reporting that Governor Walker and his allies are actually interested in busting unions.

Going almost completely unreported is the fact that some protesters aren't focusing on the specifics of Governor Walker's plan. For them, the issue is much, much larger. They're out to bust capitalism. This is their revolution.