**** One of the more interesting elements of the previous possession of the Capitol was the ability it afforded people outside the leadership of the unions, parties, and organizations (or people not involved in any such organization at all) to meet, theorize, organize, and plan.****
>From 1965 to the end of the first Gulf War, and again since 911, I have been
more or less continually involved in various kinds of 'protest' organizing
on many issues. But I have experienced nothing like this since the '60s. By
'this' I mean the urge to plan, to theorize, as jam puts it, rising _as the
result of action_, and as part of a continuing action.
Now the cliché holds that one swallow does not a summer make. The flare of activity in Wisconsin and (somewhat less dramatically) in some other state capitals may well die out, as U.S. working people reconcile themselves to the continuing austerity and destruction of public services.* Acceptance of oppression is the rule, resistance the exception. But it may not. Perhaps Mike Yates in his speech reported by Jan and the National Teach-in planned by Piven & West point to a new period of growing resistance to capital. And I am reminded of a private slogan I formed after my very first participation in an action, when after a city council meeting we got a reasonably large group of people together -- and didn't know what to do with our success. The slogan: Defeats are defeats, one lives with them; but to win and not be prepared to build on it is simply unacceptable."
And thus it seems to me that every leftist in the U.S. should have one prime thought in his/her mind; that all left conversation should feature, questions arising from the possibility revealed in Wisconsin, and in jam's first paragraph. And that is one of the reasons I think the concern with Libya is so disproportionate, that the _personal_ (and perhaps jealousy) reaction to West& Piven, is so off-putting.
We may actually have work to do. Is anyone on this list thinking at all on how he/she will related to the projected national teach-in on April 5?
Carrol
jam Sent: Thursday, March 10, 2011 12:23 AM
One of the more interesting elements of the previous possession of the Capitol was the ability it afforded people outside the leadership of the unions, parties, and organizations (or people not involved in any such organization at all) to meet, theorize, organize, and plan.
Outwardly the occupation may have appeared as a stalling strategy and symbolic occupation - indeed it was that, but also more - inside, people were constantly meeting, sharing, solidifying bonds, working out the tensions of building a broad movement. It had become a rather well organized community with wings devoted to food, health/medicine, family/childcare, meetings, etc while the building served as a sort of nucleas outside more establishment-oriented domains. Maintaining possession may no longer delay passage of the bill, but there is a sense that it is 'our' house and we are determined to have it back; currently, it is back in the people's hands and the old chants, songs, etc echo again through the marble halls. Fire trucks and snow plows have made rounds around the building, horns and sirens blaring. The dane county sheriff's dep't appears to be solidly sympathetic; however, the sheriff warned that the capitol is under the jurisdiction of the capitol police and they in conjunction with the Dep't of Administration will ultimately make enforcement decisions.
My guess is that they will want the capitol back - it serves too many purposes in the people's hands (hence all of the rules issued by DoA over the past week to keep people out).
For now, it is ours, but there is no rest.
On Mar 9, 2011 9:48 PM, "Dissenting Wren" <dissentingwren at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Just heard from a comrade in Chicago Soli that protesters have overwhelmed
the
> police at the WI State Capitol and the occupation is back on. This can be
a
> temporary tactical focus while other strategies are developed. Yves Smith
over
> at Naked Capitalism released a WI state memo demonstrating fiscal impact
of the
> bill that was just passed, so no doubt there will be court challenges to
the
> bill. No doubt recall campaigns will proceed as well. Sustaining a public,
> militant presence is going to be trickier. At Tahrir Square there was a
simple,
> direct demand that kept the demonstrations focused. In WI up until now
there
> has been a similar focus. But with the bill now passed, what focuses the
street
> presence and keeps up the pressure?
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: Chuck Grimes <c123grimes at att.net>
> To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
> Sent: Wed, March 9, 2011 9:35:58 PM
> Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] blog post: radical labor education, part 5: a new
labor
> movement?
>
>
>> On Mar 9, 2011, at 8:29 PM, jam wrote:
>>
>>> I tried send an alert to the list earlier but I'm not sure it went
through -
>>> my messages seem to work when I send them as replies...so:
>>
>> It did get through. Not a surprise really, but shitty news.
>
> Next move, on strike shut it down. Continue the occupation, continue
> the 14 in Illionis, now move to paralize the state government and economy.
The
> legislature can repeal Magna Carta, established the
> supreme fascist leader, Uber Gruppen Fuhrer Valker, whatever. It is
meaningless,
> if the mass on the ground makes it meaningless.
>
> You saw how it was to be done in Cairo, in Tahrir. We are with you, and we
are
> not small. I can feel it in my bones, in my soul. We are vast. They
> have no idea what they have fucked with.
>
> Meanwhile work on the legal angle to put an injunction on the law. By
whatever
> means necessary!
>
> In solidarity,
>
> CG
>
>
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