The birth of a movement: Madison’s largest demonstration yet

Capitol Square overflows in largest Wisconsin labor solidarity demonstration yet (crowd estimated at 85,000 to 100,000). Alison Bauter on Saturday 03/12/2011 6:17 pm ,  courtesy of the Daily Page. 

The following post was contributed by Facebook friend, Kevin Shannon.

Yesterday was a great day for me. I not only got to spend the whole day with my son, but we spent the afternoon hours outdoors in 10 degree windchill with the warmest and nicest bunch (120,000 or so) of friendly people you may ever see gathered in one place. As a Minnesotan, I never thought I would say that about my neighboring state's cheeseheads, even if it were true! But, as we chanted along with everyone there yesterday, "We ARE Wisconsin." Yes we are, and that can apply to so many of us, anywhere....

After the early morning (okay, it wasn't as early as we had intended!) drive down the freeway, which included linking up with Todd Dahlstrom's car on I-90/94, we stumbled luckily onto an underground parking ramp which only was charging $3, and was right next to the Capitol. When we emerged into the light, we were in political activist heaven. Thousands of people were already marching around Capitol Square, with signs and costumes galore (mind you these are Midwesterners, in winter!, being expressive!!!). Not knowing where things would be happening, we fell into the stream of people and let it carry us around to the far diagonal corner, where just as we arrived about noon, Jim Hightower was being introduced. What a way to start!

Then a fabulous thing happened...as he finished his colorful (ahem!) remarks, the crowd first yelled out a cheer, but then rather politely (for a protest crowd) began to chant, "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Not just a few people, but all 30-40,000 who were already there! The amazing thing is, this was the "new normal" as, after each speaker or singer, this mass gratitude was loudly, but politely, expressed again and again. Even as the crowd grew to upwards of 100,000 people (a jam packed stadium full at a large university's football game...united in being polite and grateful! in unison!)

We looked for a place to be, and noticed that many of the swelling crowd were moving up onto the lawn on the hillside up to the Capitol. All the square feet of space in the streets and the sidewalks and the steps were now occupied. This is the situation which led to the trampling and muddying and ripping up (soft ground) of the Capitol Grounds sod, which I'm sure you will hear Gov. Walker say, tomorrow, is expected to cost between $75 and 100 million to replace. However, should Gov. Walker offer to step down in exchange, I'm quite certain that the $15-20,000?? project would be completed for free by any number of union workers....

I had along one of those fold out canvas chairs from my soccer-dad days, and we looked for a place where it wouldn't tip over backwards if I sat down from time to time. Parking at the base of a very large tree, we discovered that for most of the afternoon, we could actually see the heads of the speakers, up the hill near the top of the steps. As the crowd milled around and the inclined ground became more and more of a mudslide, we frequently directed the less capable to safer ways of descending to street level, than the slope to one side where several people found themselves enjoying a mud bath on their asses. This provided quite a bit of entertainment between speakers...

Here's what all this led up to: for the rest of the afternoon, we were swept along with the emotion and passion of over 100,000 amazingly fervent and yes raucous citizens, who were, yes, angry about the theft of their democracy and their civil rights by the Republicans in the state government....but nary a single incident of thuggery, violence, fighting, even arguing(!) was seen. Not one! Boring? NO WAY, I still have chills, not from the cold, but from remembering the energy and united force of the crowd's unity! But friendly respectful, GOOD PEOPLE?? Yes!!!

"THIS. is. what. de.moc..racy looks. like."  The chant was so incredibly, beautifully, openly, powerfully.....TRUE!

More than one speaker told all of us, this was now more than just a "protest" - this was the birth of a MOVEMENT. A movement of the people who have had enough. A movement for democracy fighting back against the insidious onslaught of plutocracy. A movement to guard the hard-won civil rights gained in past battles - now, right here and right now, in today's very-polite ("Thank You! Thank you!") but-make-no-mistake-deadly-serious war.

To all who were there, to all who see these words or any other story about yesterday, 3/12/11 in  Madison Wisconsin (well, except any story about it on Fox News)....make no mistake:

THE PEOPLE ARE COMING ALIVE. THE MOVEMENT IS HERE. NOW IS THE TIME!!!

Michael Moore onstage in Madison: America is NOT broke! (Video)

If you’re feeling down and out about the state of the economy; union-busting amateur governors like Scott Walker; and uninformed talking heads spouting off about cutting “those entitlements,” watch the video of Michael Moore’s rallying speech to the protesters at the Wisconsin capitol in Madison on March 5.

Wisconsin Gov. Walker’s popularity tanking fast

Wisconsin Gov. Walker, Republican

Over at Forbes, Rick Ugar is saying Wisconsin Republican Gov. Scott Walker has already lost the war.

Walker may still be trying to intimidate Wisconsin senate Democrats and break the public employees union, but it looks as if the people of the Badger state have turned against him.

Ugar reports:

In what may be the result of one of the great political miscalculations of our time, Scott Walker’s popularity in his home state is fast going down the tubes.

A Rasmussen poll out today reveals that almost 60% of likely Wisconsin voters now disapprove of their aggressive governor’s performance, with 48% strongly disapproving.

While these numbers are clearly indicators of a strategy gone horribly wrong, there are some additional finding in the poll that I suspect deserve even greater attention.

It turns out that the state’s public school teachers are very popular with their fellow Badgers. With 77% of those polled holding a high opinion of their educators, it is not particularly surprising that only 32% among households with children in the public school system approve of the governor’s performance. Sixty-seven percent (67%) disapprove, including 54% who strongly disapprove.

Can anyone imagine a politician succeeding with numbers like this among people who have kids?

Read more:

Live rifle ammunition found outside capitol in Madison, Wisc.

The capitol building in Madison surrounded by protesters.

The AP reported from Madison, Wisc. minutes ago:

Dozens of rounds of live rifle ammunition were found Thursday scattered around the grounds of the Wisconsin Capitol, where large crowds of people have been protesting Gov. Scott Walker's proposal to rescind nearly all collective bargaining rights for most public employee unions.

For more on this story, go to USA Today.

Mass union protests spread “like a wind-whipped brush fire”

Protesters gather outside the state capitol in Madison, Wisc.on Sat. Feb. 19, 2011

In Tuesday’s editorial, the NY Times comes down on the side of union protesters across the Midwest fighting to preserve their bargaining power :

Like a wind-whipped brush fire, the mass union protests that began in Madison, Wis., last week have spread to the capitals of Ohio and Indiana where Republican lawmakers also are trying to cripple the bargaining power of unions — and ultimately realize a cherished partisan dream of eradicating them. In each case, Republican talk of balancing budgets is cover for the real purpose of gutting the political force of middle-class state workers, who are steady supporters of Democrats and pose a threat to a growing conservative agenda.

In Ohio, Republican legislators, backed by Gov. John Kasich, have introduced a bill to end collective bargaining for state employees, in addition to imposing budgetary givebacks. Former Gov. Ted Strickland, a Democrat who was defeated by Mr. Kasich last year, has called the bill a “coordinated attack on the working middle class.” Thousands of union supporters showed up at the Capitol in Columbus on Tuesday, but the party appears to have the votes to pass the measure.

Across the border, Republicans are pushing a bill that would make Indiana what is misleadingly known as a “right-to-work” state. That means workers cannot be required to join public- or private-sector unions or pay dues, starving unions of the money they need to operate. Democrats in the Indiana House left the state to prevent a vote, tying up all legislation for two days. Thousands of workers have rallied on the Statehouse grounds. Gov. Mitch Daniels (who ended collective-bargaining rights for state workers in 2005) has supported the bill’s concept but on Tuesday urged Republicans to drop it because it could interfere with other items on his agenda.

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