The capitol was quickly lost after I wrote the message to which Carrol referred; people remained in it over night but by the "tractorcade" on Saturday, 3/12 it had been 'retaken' by the Department of Administration (my current FB profile pic is of my 6y/o son being searched at a Capitol entrance checkpoint). There was a surge of energy during the evening of Wednesday, 3/9 when parts of the budget repair bill were passed - people yelling strike, repossessing the capitol, etc - i think the unfolding of events since then illustrate the tensions between spontaneity and organization that Rosa Luxemburg wrote about over 100 years ago.
I am probably the least learned, theoretically sophisticated among us at LBO-talk, but from my point of view, the solidarity that had been organically growing among people for a month coupled with the radical impulses (there's a better word but I'm not sure what it is) expressed on 3/9 (when the bill was "passed") led to an extremely volatile situation, but that potential was quelled... by doubt and pessimism re the wisdom of spontaneity?... i don't know. Had the capitol remained in the people's hands through the previous week, affording what I believe were much more fertile conditions for people to engage the - pardon the jargon but i think it's appropriate - dialectical complementarity of theory and practice, i speculate (only reading tea leaves here - i would certainly accept criticism for doing so - it just stings like a missed opportunity should) that more radical actions would have been taken on the night of 3/9 through 3/11 (when walker signed the bill).
But I don't know. I hope some other lbosters post on this because I have been mulling this over with anyone who'll spend more than three minutes near me... and I still can't really make sense...
Shortly after things began in mid Feb, I wrote a rather panicked message to lbo-talk - I am certainly not proud of the message, but through it I think you can capture a sense of the urgency and pace of events. It was a constantly evolving, emotionally and intellectually exhausting mess. People needed space to sound that shit off with each other - theorize in the heat of action - and know it was okay to feel confused, upset, euphoric, conflicted, etc. The Capitol provided this space - indeed it was *made* into that space.
I'm making it sound like the movement is over - it's not, but we are at a crossroads, and I suspect that we will come to understand that we let a few opportunities slip by for which we should have been more prepared, brave, trusting...I don't know. Clearly we suffered, and will continue to suffer, a defeat, but, as many have mentioned, there is a clear, lasting (for now) sense of victory too. People mobilized, worked together, supported each other in ways that defied presumptions of friend and foe alike. You could feel it when people raised their fists and shouted "solidarity!" at each other with no sense of irony or self-consciousness, when somebody passed a piece of pizza to you (btw, ever tried potato salad pizza? I shit you not) paid for by somebody you never met, when a small group of you is called slobs, thugs, or lazy and thousands of others show up declaring themselves to be slobs, thugs, or lazy, when the dep't of administration spreads exaggerated estimates of costs to 'repair' the capitol and the painter's union offers to do the work for free... I do not mean to laud "moral victories" but there seems to be something real that has been won; however, i think it may need to be exercised before it atrophies. Something about EP Thompson's quote that class is a relationship and a process seems relevant here - class is so clearly *happening* - everybody can see, hear, feel it.
For your pleasure, here are a couple very recent videos of children getting citations for having a sign on the second level ('first floor"): Part one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqw0UFjIDr4 - part two: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbZ_uGucZCQ
For contrast, this is what the capitol looked like when it was last a mostly 'liberated territory' (2/27): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OPshBbX2ww&feature=related - Notice on the periphery of the rotunda the small groups sitting, talking - there are four large wings and four smaller atria on each level - at the time, we possessed most of the floor space on three levels and some of a fourth (excluding legislative, judicial, and executive chambers) - while the rotunda was often a site for rallying, singing, chanting, speeches, etc, in each of the wings and atria there are people standing, sitting, *talking* about what was happening - some of the wings were organized for food distribution, family care, medical care, etc. The people continued to hold some sections of the capitol until 3/3, when the capitol police and state patrol (under command of the fitzgerald brothers' father - btw, one fitzgerald is speaker of the state assembly, the other is president of the state senate) said they would forcibly remove remaining protestors. several had earlier in the week prepared themselves for arrest; however, a debate of strategy resulted in protestors leaving voluntarily. Here is some incredible video showing some of the intense tension http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vw95lPcS1K0&NR=1 -- OR -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3hWRafYO-M&feature=related - Brett Hulsey is a liberal democrat representing madison's west side in the state assembly - watch him play his "i'm a heroic democrat" card. Utter jackass. Winning indeed, jackass! Watch the manipulation unfold...don't give walker what he wants indeed... Notice the fucking "hush symbol" which, ironically, looks like the peace gesture - pointer and middle fingers extended... I hope the children in the first two videos inspire the rest of the movement to have a little more courage, trust.
Anyway, you can tell from my ruminations that I am, like many others, still working on making sense of things - again, I'd appreciate any questions, comments, scathing rebuttals... thank for you time-
Joshua (formerly jam, formerly Joshua - still getting used to email)