[lbo-talk] jam on Wisconsin: A whiff of the '60s

Joshua Morey amvojo at gmail.com
Mon Mar 28 10:24:25 PDT 2011


I <dhenwood at I> was just reading an account that made it sound like the initial movement has become an exercise in electioneering, which would mean pushing Democrats. Is that true?

Doug ______________

Yes, in many ways it is true - Joanne Kloppenburg for state Supreme Court in April (she would not have a chance if not for this conflict), the recalls of representatives soon thereafter, and a recall of walker in 2012. (then what?) It's the union and DP line but there is a lot of dissatisfaction with the strategy. It is my observation that many, while happy to contribute to recalls, are not so eager to put all their eggs in the DP basket and are upset with the moderating effects of their organizations' hierarchies (even among some of the more radical groups).

While the crowds are smaller, people continue to march and the walker administration continues to be surreptitious, which probably wouldn't be necessary if not for the movement; however, secret and underhanded or not, the administration's persistence highlights a weakness in the movement - the administration is basically calling our bluff- they think we won't do anything truly disruptive. I hope the citation of those kids (in my previous post to this thread) provides something of a lesson to the rest of us; perhaps more civil disbedience will force the cops to 'pick a side' or perhaps expose some of the pseudo-legal absurdity issued by the DoA...or at least we can maybe stop thanking the cops every time they wave a metal detecting wand over us when we want to enter the capitol (my current facebook profile pic is a cop searching my six year old son - a notorious terrorist) and every time they kick us out... Certainly that is not "what democracy looks like"

FWIW - I think Abe Sauer at the Awl has been contributing some brilliant journalism on WI.

Joshua/jam/joshua



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