Wisconsin Protests

[xCrucialDudex]

What's really going on there? Is budget deficit really an excuse to destroy labor unions?

[xVeganAnarchistx]

For scott walker it is. Right now, since the bill passed, a good number of people are focusing on recall efforts for the republican reps since we cannot recall walker for another year. The group im working with is helping some of the more militant members of a nameless labor union work on how we can escalate to job actions in preparation for a possible strike.

One good note is a lot more people are active in whats going on right now in wisconsin then i've ever seen. Its cool that way.

[xCrucialDudex]

For scott walker it is. Right now, since the bill passed, a good number of people are focusing on recall efforts for the republican reps since we cannot recall walker for another year. The group im working with is helping some of the more militant members of a nameless labor union work on how we can escalate to job actions in preparation for a possible strike.

One good note is a lot more people are active in whats going on right now in wisconsin then i've ever seen. Its cool that way.

How'd you end up in this situation? I mean, I've never really followed US politics before... how often something like this is happening in your country? Why don't they just take more from the rich guys? :)

[xVeganAnarchistx]

How'd you end up in this situation? I mean, I've never really followed US politics before... how often something like this is happening in your country? Why don't they just take more from the rich guys? :)

Well republicans dream about doing this, but its not something that happens in the northern states. So the recalls are new like the attack a successful attack on unions is new up here. Alot of people think either 1) rich people get rich because of sheer hard work, the whole anyone can become a billionaire idea is quite popular, even in the working classes. 2) A good number of people tend to accept trickle down economics as a good idea.

We are working on bringing class consciousness back, but America has not been really revolutionary class consciousness since the afl-cio merger, and even then, it was not a majority. This bringing out the strength of the left will be good for the movement generally i think. It really shows that we are not just going to take whatever the ruling classes toss at us.

[xCrucialDudex]

Well republicans dream about doing this, but its not something that happens in the northern states. So the recalls are new like the attack a successful attack on unions is new up here. Alot of people think either 1) rich people get rich because of sheer hard work, the whole anyone can become a billionaire idea is quite popular, even in the working classes. 2) A good number of people tend to accept trickle down economics as a good idea.

We are working on bringing class consciousness back, but America has not been really revolutionary class consciousness since the afl-cio merger, and even then, it was not a majority. This bringing out the strength of the left will be good for the movement generally i think. It really shows that we are not just going to take whatever the ruling classes toss at us.

Somehow I have a feeling you're not among those people who believe in 1), are you? :)

Anyway, what's the name of your group?

[xVeganAnarchistx]

we're called Student Labor Action Coalition (SLAC, its a great acronym). We're autonomous but federated with the group called United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) . I'm also working with some new groups tkaing the radical end of the struggle forward. Namely Wisconsin Resists. There is really a lot going on here though.

[xCrucialDudex]

we're called Student Labor Action Coalition (SLAC, its a great acronym). We're autonomous but federated with the group called United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) . I'm also working with some new groups tkaing the radical end of the struggle forward. Namely Wisconsin Resists. There is really a lot going on here though.

I can imagine! I try to follow the news on what's happening there via Democracy Now! and random newspaper publications, but not zealously.

In fact, I've talked about this to a guy from Tennessee originally, he's in my country right now. He came back with "I'm not a union person, so... I don't really care. And they have to do something with budget". I didn't feel like engaging him in a thorough discussion, I don't know that much about US compared to him being a native but the argument felt strange. When I asked him "What about collective bargaining rights? Doesn't that sound bad to you?" he replied with something equally strange.