Andrew's blog

In the three months since the Budget Repair Bill was signed, activists in Wisconsin have been looking for whatever they can do to keep things going and to refuse to let the austerity agenda proceed unhindered. Undoubtedly, important coalitions and actions have come together to attempt to keep the protest energy together, but its been difficult for these things to really take hold in the face of at least two major institutional endeavors: the first has been the recalls (the timeframe to collect signatures to recall legislators is just about ending now), and the second was the Supreme Court election, which lasted much longer than expected in light of the election fraud and subsequent recount (in the end, the right-wing justice Prosser still won). The big electoral organizing being over, the time is just about right for another go at street protest.

So last week a series of actions were planned by people around National Nurses United (which does not currently have members in Madison, but have kept a few paid organizers here since February to organize some of the coalition campaigns), some individual trade unionists and younger student/community activists. The idea then was basically that people who were dissatisfied by the way that the struggle had turned out since the bill's passage wanted to try and bring back the street activity. After some discussion, the plan came up to organize some direct actions to block the intersections around the capitol building, take protests to banks and halt business as usual.

Wednesday morning we were all preparing for a compromise. The media blew up with stories that Scott Walker was willing to keep collective bargaining in place in exchange for the return of the fourteen Democrats and the passage of the rest of the bill, and activists on the ground scrambled looking for ways to strengthen their coalition and resist a compromise that could remove organized labor from the fight in order to conquer the rest of the working class.

The odd thing was that Wednesday evening, instead of continuing what appeared to be a very effective strategy to move forward on the austerity and disperse the movement, Republicans split the bill and moved to ramrod it through the Legislature that night; the bill has stalled out for as long as it has because they don't have quorum to pass it as financial legislation, so they've split the bill to have a non-financial union-busting bill that they can pass with the numbers they have now. The Senate passed the union-busting split bill Wednesday night with no debate and with only 8 pages missing from over 140 total pages.

The response by protesters was furious: I must have gotten at least four phone calls and a dozen text messages saying "GET TO THE CAPITOL"--every network had been tapped.

A quick note on process: I want to point out that the analysis and reporting that I've been doing has been the result of many collective discussions and debates with my comrades, members of Solidarity as well as fellow travelers. Mistakes or misjudgments are my own, and times where I feel like I've been off is because I haven't been able to work through the situation collectively. Givin' credit where credit's due!

Let's start with a recap of last week before getting into where we are now. A week ago, on the last weekend of February, the Legislature tried to close the capitol and ran up against a critical mass of demonstrators and a number of police defections. On Sunday evening, 2/27, about a hundred protesters refused to leave the capitol after a dispersal order and following some short deliberation the Capitol Police announced that they would not attempt any arrests. This all set up an intensified struggle over the capitol--would the continued occupation by a hundred activists reopen the capitol or would the capitol be closed out?

Court is still in session and access to the capitol is restricted for the fourth consecutive day. About eighty people continue the sit-in inside the capitol, for hope that the combination of popular pressure and favorable judicial order will force the DOA and police to step aside and let the occupation of the capitol resume in full; if they leave, their understanding is that the capitol will be unrecoverable for the movement.

The resolve of people inside is nothing short of heroic. Many of the activists holding the floor at the capitol have been there for days, since last Friday even, committed to staying for every night that it was rumored people would be pushed out. But unlike last week where activists would go to meetings, get food, clean up and rush back to the capitol before being locked out, they have been basically unable to leave since the doors closed Sunday afternoon. Morale has had its highs and lows, higher at the start of the week and lower every day since as the isolation and feeling of powerlessness sets in. I got a call from a comrade inside yesterday and I said to them, "Its like you're in fucking prison," to which they responded, "Well actually in prison you could come visit me."

Judge Moeser ruled that the Department of Administration (DOA) could not limit access to the capitol building and granted the restraining order demanded by protesters (I think legal counsel was acquired by WEAC and AFSCME Council 24?). Nonetheless, the entrance to the capitol Tuesday was penned in with guard rails to keep protesters in single file, orange plastic fencing enclosing the lawn and a line of police guarding the doors. Around 80 people have stayed in the capitol, and the DOA's response to the restraining order was to "satisfy" entry rights by allowing one protester in for everyone who would leave the occupation inside. All this as thousands of people outside chanted "LET US IN!" and "SHAME ON YOU!" Bricklayers from Chicago came out in solidarity with Wisconsin workers and blew up an inflatable suited fat cat strangling a hard-hatted worker with "WISCONSIN" written on him. Laborers from Milwaukee marched in their bright orange LiUNA! shirts and said that any day they're not here they're demonstrating back home.

The big news this weekend is about cops in the capitol. Friday, most people know, the Wisconsin Professional Police Association said that they would refuse orders to clear out the capitol and instead sleep in to keep the occupation going. Unfortunately, there are three different groups of police working inside the capitol and the WPPA statement is speaking for the city cops here. That leaves the Capitol Police and the State Patrol (Capitol Police actually have their offices in the basement of the capitol and their turf is the capitol and the square surrounding it). The WPPA's defection Friday was a shock and opened up the question of what's going to happen inside the capitol? Will the Capitol Police refuse too? Or the State Patrol? Both? Will they come up against each other?

Its pretty clear that we are in an all out class war here and everyone seems to know it. Organized labor all across the United States knows it, they're sending people here and looking at what to do at home; non-union workers know it and they're moving forward their demands and tactics (like today's occupation of the GOP office by ADAPT disability activists); and obviously, Walker, the Legislature, the Koch Brothers and the entire capitalist class knows it and they're out for a complete crushing victory.

The strategic and tactical assessments of the situation have shifted a few times since this started last week--our goals and objectives have had to change with the developments here, the idea of what is possible and what a win means. Its all changed and changed again. When we arrived at what seemed like a kind of stalemate over the weekend, both sides were digging in and preparing to deal huge blows: Walker and the Legislature were expected to press the police and push the bill; workers had the threat of a general strike, a huge presence at the capitol and a lot of unrest in the state. Monday night/Tuesday early morning, there was a sense of immediacy that broke the interlude--people on the ground were getting ready to defend against a push by briefing each other on direct actions, legal support and emergency support to unions.

Without a doubt, today is going to decide the course of the struggle. The last two and a half days have been a pause, with folks moving into position for Tuesday while guarding their backs in case of any unexpected developments. Rumors of strikes have come and gone depending on what the collective sense is of who's in the lead and what the balance of forces is. The anxiety into Monday was in looking for some maneuvers or developments that would put one side in front of the other, a step forward by some local who to announce an action or a new position on the bill by anyone in the government, but basically everyone has just dug in and stayed the course.

We're into the fifth day now and its starting to take its toll--I'm pretty worn so hopefully this report is holding the standard. The capitol square has temporarily depopulated to the point that it almost looks like a normal business day--of course its Sunday and most people don't do business with KILL THE BILL placards and "I am MTI" pins. The local newspapers are saying that the small turnout today is because of the bad weather (it's grossly cold and wet) and that shows the resolve of protesters here. But people have been here days and nights and since there's no imminent threat its a good time to go home, take care of yourself and get ready for the next day. Some are leaving Madison, back to the rest of Wisconsin for life, work or until the next round, so allies from around the country have come to take their places and keep a presence. And even though things seem pretty mellow, there's a lot going on behind the scenes.