Steve Burns: Why holding the Capitol matters

For nearly two weeks, a determined group of hundreds of Wisconsinites has maintained a 24-hour-a-day presence in our Capitol, keeping the "People's House" open to the people. Although these "Solidarity Sleepovers" were initiated by a union, the Teaching Assistants Association, some union leaders have expressed concerns about this powerful example of nonviolent civil resistance, fearing that holding the Capitol in defiance of police orders could "change the storyline" from a conflict between the Governor and workers to one of a conflict between protesters and the police.

In fact, the Capitol occupation has enabled us to write an entirely new storyline, one of a conflict between the Governor and the police. It was Governor Walker who pressed police commanders to clear the Capitol as of 4pm Sunday night, and it was those same police commanders who wisely refused to follow Scott Walker's demands.

At the outset, we all knew that police and firefighter unions would be a key component of resistance to the Governor's plan. What nobody knew was how far the police would go in expressing their opposition, especially given that Walker decided to carefully exempt them the list of unions targeted for destruction. What the Capitol occupation has done is to provide police and firefighters with an opportunity to express their solidarity with other workers in the most powerful way, by putting themselves directly on the line on the side of the protesters, as many police and firefighters did when they joined the overnight sleep-in. By holding the Capitol, we've also provided police leaders, like Madison Chief of Police Noble Wray and Dane County Sheriff Dave Mahoney, with a powerful means of expressing their solidarity with the workers, as they did when they issued public statements rebuking Walker for threatening public safety by recklessly ordering the Capitol be cleared of protesters. It's fair to ask how much media attention would have been given to police opposition to union-busting if an opportunity had not been provided for this sort of high-profile defiance.

And one only has to spend a short time inside the Capitol to see the many opportunities the Capitol occupation has provided to build solidarity between police and protesters, as they share the same confined space, days on end. This can only strengthen our cause, even if we don't doubt that the police will follow orders, once the orders are given.

Furthermore, we should never underestimate the importance of the intangibles, like confidence and a sense of momentum. At the outset, Scott Walker was confident he could roll over any opposition, and many of us, myself included, were not at all confident that we could overcome a Republican Governor supported by strong Republican majorities in both houses of the legislature. Any moment when someone works up the will to say "no" to this petty tyrant subtracts from his confidence and adds to ours. If the "no" is coming from the head of the Capitol Police, (as in, "No, I won't evict these people") then so much the worse for him and so much the better for us.

Looking forward, what's most important is that we keep hundreds of people in the Capitol, around the clock, until this crisis is resolved in favor of the workers. And it's vitally important that our presence include a strong contingent of gray-haired folk like myself. On Sunday night, the presence of so many older community members likely had a restraining effect on police, and helped push them towards a decision to back off from the Governor's deadline.

On Sunday, some of the conversations I had with people considering whether to stay in the Capitol and risk arrest were about the newspaper headline we could expect the next day, and whether "Hundreds arrested in protest at Capitol" would help or hurt the workers' cause. But Sunday night showed us that, given sufficient determination, sufficient numbers and sufficient age diversity, we could write a new headline, "Police refuse governor's order to evict."

For myself, what pushed me over the line into a decision to risk arrest were Scott Walker's own words, quoted in a news report about his eviction order. Walker explained that it was necessary to clear the Capitol so that we could "get back to business as usual." Yes, exactly, because "business as usual" doesn't just mean a capitol cleared of its own citizens, it means an entire system of Crony Capitalism, where billionaires write the laws and the people are shut out, literally out in the cold. Every day we hold the Capitol is a day in which "business as usual" is suspended, and that's why I'll be at the Capitol tonight and every night until the workers win. I hope to see you there.

Steve Burns is Program Director of Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice.

Chicago cop reports from inside our capitol

WNPJ member Sue Ruggles sends us this report from a Chicago policeman who came to Madison to express support for worker rights:

I rolled into Madison Wednesday morning, and left to return home to Chicago Friday night. When I first got to Madison, I walked up to the capitol and saw 8 people on the corner wearing blue t-shirts over their coats. The shirts had "COPS FOR LABOR" in big white letters on the back and "Madison Police Assoc." in small letters on the front. I showed them my police I.D. and asked where I could buy one. A cop said she'd get another one later, and literally gave me the shirt off her back.... People in Wisconsin are so damn friendly it's FREAKY!!

I went into the building and was energized and inspired immediately; actually before I even got in. There were thousands standing around and marching around the outside. Members of all kinds of unions, both Wisconsinites and from all over the country were there. Non-union supporters, too. People ranged in age from 9 months to 91 years old.Her sign: "91 year old union supporter and 40-year member. I can still kick butt, Scott!"[Gov. Walker] Thousands of teens and 20-somethings were everywhere.

Many people looked at my "COPS FOR LABOR" shirt and thanked me for being there. I thanked them back. Some asked me for directions, but of course I didn't know where the hell anything was. Inside there were signs EVERYWHERE. One of my favorite: " 'I'd like to buy the world.'-- a Koch" There was one speaker after another in the middle of the rotunda on a megaphone, surrounded by several people with drums and plastic buckets. There were people all around on the first, second and third floors. During the speeches and in between, there was drumming, cheering and chanting.

I roamed all around, up and down the several staircases. The mood was incredibly upbeat. County sheriffs and city cops from several departments were all around, doing what's called "high visibility, low profile". They only blocked off certain areas. They, like the crowd, were mostly extremely cordial. Many said they liked my shirt. Some mentioned approval of my Veterans For Peace ball cap.

I saw about 20 people march into the rotunda wearing the same COPS FOR LABOR shirts. I joined them as they marched in one side through to the other door. People cleared a path and cheered us. One guy holding a big pan handed me a foil-wrapped bratwurst (the official state sandwich, I kid you not!). They were shaking my hand, patting my back and thanking me for being there. I kept thanking them back. The positive energy was overwelming. In the middle of the day, firefighters marched in with bagpipes and drums, playing "On, Wisconsin" and "America the Beautiful". They do this twice a day, and the crowd roars and some weep with appreciation.

Everywhere I went in the building, I saw plastic air rafts and mattresses and sleeping bags. The doors are locked at about 11 p.m. each night; you can leave, but not enter till 8 a.m. Every night 1,000 to 3,000 sleep in the building. There were first aid, security, information, free food, and other stations set up and manned by the protesters. The whole place was amazingly clean and orderly, considering the circumstances.

VFP member Dave Jensen from Tyler, Texas (a fellow Camp Casey member) flew in Wednesday afternoon. We also met up with Bob Gronko (Chicago VFP/VVAW), Bruce Berry, Dave and Gerald (VFP Minneapolis) and several VFP from Madison and Milwaukee.

Ian's Pizza joint a block away kept delivering 50 or more pizzas at a time, ordered by folks from all 50 states and over 40 countries "to feed the protesters at the capitol". I had a couple slices myself--when in Rome.... All around the city of about 300,000 there were signs of support in house and store windows.

On Thursday, a few VFP members squeezed into the middle of the rotunda as member Will Williams spoke to the over 10,000 inside. He mentioned how VFP fights nonviolently for ending wars and occupations that make the nation and world LESS safe, and sap money from needed services and programs. The crowd went wild. We got lots of hugs.

Friday we met up with a few IVAW members. Many more IVAW, VFP, VVAW members will arrive from Chicago and all over Saturday (tomorrow), but I had to go back to work. My 3 weekdays there I saw between 15,000-30,000 in and around the capitol all the time. Saturday (tomorrow) they again will have upwards of 100,000 there. I talked with folks from all over Wisconsin, over 20 from Los Angeles (they were COLD), and from everywhere else.

We went to hear Amy Goodman (Democracy Now) and John Nichols (The Nation magazine) speak at a packed theater Thursday night. People I spoke with rightly called Madison the epicenter, or the front line, or ground zero in the war on workers/unions/the middle class declared by corporations and their government stooges.

Friday morning word spread that the governor wanted to evict the protesters Saturday night. Later we heard he wanted to do it Friday night. So then many cops from all over announced they would (while off duty) remain in the capitol overnight to prevent the eviction of the protesters, which many of the cops are themselves.

I have not felt such a beautiful spirit of community and determination since August of 2005 at Camp Casey in Crawford, Texas. I encourage all who can to go to Madison at this historic moment in time. You WON'T regret it. If you can't go there, join in a rally of support Saturday somewhere near you. We stand together or we fall apart, sisters and brothers. I gotta go back there. SOLIDARITY!!

David Giffey: River Valley Students walk out in support of workers

A roar of protest sweeping from Wisconsin’s capital across the River Valley and all of the state is both angry and reassuring.

The anger is justified in the hearts and minds of many of us, because we are sons and daughters of Wisconsin. We know that workers’ rights laws were written in our state before they were in any other state in the nation. That is a source of pride for Wisconsin citizens, a sign that we care about each other.

The anger isn’t blind and violent. Instead, the anger is channeled into massive peaceful protests, which are educating and energizing tens of thousands of people, many of them young students.

That’s the reassuring part.

Consider the walkout last Wednesday by 170 River Valley High School students in protest of Gov. Scott Walker’s “budget repair bill,” which was written by someone yet to be determined—not Walker—to strip workers of their collective bargaining rights. Who knows better than students how life will be affected if their favorite school subjects and activities are eviscerated by a radical anti-union movement intending to spread its agenda not only in Wisconsin but across the nation? Many of the student speakers correctly pointed out that repairing the state budget isn’t at the core of the Walker bill. Its aim is to destroy the right to organize unions and collective bargaining.

The two largest public employee unions in the state have said they would accept the benefits cuts in Walker’s bill, but he persists with his union busting campaign. The non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau has identified Walker’s attack on collective bargaining as one of nine “non-fiscal policy items” in the bill, further proof that Walker’s bill is not about money.

Leaders of the student protest in Spring Green were careful to an extreme as they warned against inappropriate behavior and language, and emphasized the need for nonviolence. It was a study in peaceful protest.

Of course, there are consequences. Civil disobedience always has consequences. The students will be charged with unexcused absences from two class periods. That’s punishment suited to the “infraction.” It also follows district policy.

River Valley school officials and local authorities are to be commended for their calm presence at the rally. They stood aside and let the students express themselves.

An astounding demonstration of peaceful protest, involving many River Valley teachers, also took place last week in Madison and is likely to continue indefinitely. I observed three days of the mass protests, sometimes involving 50,000 or more people, at the capitol.

With 45 years’ experience in anti-war and civil rights movements, it’s clear to me that change occurs when many voices speak up. Last week was deafening.

And it was peaceful. Even though several thousand people were jammed elbow to elbow inside our capitol for long periods of time, the atmosphere was jubilant.

At days end, protesters cleaned up the hallways. But they didn’t leave the building. They kept watch on the legislature, making sure that Walker’s bill wouldn’t get rammed through in their absence.

I overheard a young father explaining the scene to his son, perched on his shoulders. “These people think it’s wrong to pass this law because it would mean they couldn’t talk to their bosses about how much they get paid,” the father said. I didn’t hear the child’s next question, but the forthcoming answer was, “It’s a bill. It’s called a bill.”

The involvement of young people was repeated when a River Valley student told me, “I think this is a time that will define us for generations to come.”

There were plenty of teachers at the capitol last week. There were also scores of steelworkers from LaCrosse, and firefighters from across the state and carpenters, electrical workers, painters and on and on. All the trades were there in protest.

I am well aware of anti-union sentiment, or pro-war sentiment, or anti-civil rights sentiment, because I’ve been on the receiving end of such sentiments more than a few times. But setting aside polarized opinions about unions, please realize that all working people have benefited from the labor movement of the past century. It doesn’t matter if you work in a fast food restaurant or a non-union shop, you are rightfully protected by workplace safety laws, minimum wage laws, and unemployment compensation. You can thank the labor movement for that. Assuming that your employer provides adequate breaks, sick leave, vacations, health insurance, wages, and hours on the job, you can thank the labor movement for that too, because union standards have raised the bar for treatment of workers across the non-union sector as well.

Did you know that the first workmen’s compensation law was drafted and the first industrial safety law was passed by the Wisconsin legislature in 1911, exactly 100 years ago? Child labor laws were passed and amended here in the 1920s. And the first actual unemployment compensation bill put into practice was passed in Wisconsin in 1932. That year the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) was founded in Wisconsin. In 1959, Wisconsin was one of the first in the nation to recognize the rights of public workers to organize.

As the students at River Valley High School and the tens of thousands of people at the capitol repeatedly affirmed, the “budget repair bill” isn’t about money, it’s about the destruction of workers’ rights.

It’s a big bill, 144 pages. I intend to read it. I hope I get to do so before legislators, including Rep. Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green, and Sen. Dale Schultz, R-Richland Center, might vote to undo decades of workers’ rights legislation.

On a related budgetary note, the University of Wisconsin Athletic Board last Friday approved a $5.29 million increase in the athletic department budget for next year, including an 8.1 percent increase in salaries and fringe benefits for sports department employees. I guess if our agriculture, art, and technology teachers or special education staff or janitors or social studies faculty could figure out how to get to the Rose Bowl, they might get a raise next year. But for now, fairness is just another story.

David Giffey is a WNPJ member from Spring Green.

Francis Pauc: Do I look Illegal?

State Representative Donald Pridemore ( R-Hartford ) has introduced legislation concerning immigration policy. His bill is modeled after the Arizona's law SB1070. Having read the draft of the legislation, I believe that it solves no problems, although it probably creates new ones.

There is a portion of Rep. Pridemore's bill that specifically refers to sanctuary cities, where a community has a law that essentially protects illegal aliens residing there. This portion of the bill is redundant at best. Sanctuary cities may hold the moral high ground in the immigration debate, but their local ordinances often contradict state and federal laws. Federal and state statutes will trump the local laws every time, so when Rep. Pridemore writes a bill that specifically requires that these local ordinances be nullified, he is just stating the obvious.

More troubling in Rep. Pridemore's bill is the requirement allowing police to stop and question anybody when they have a reasonable suspicion that the person is in this country illegally. First of all, there is the question of how we define "reasonable suspicion". Is it all up to the judgment of the individual police officer? Are there any specific guidelines for the police to follow? The proposed law seems very ambiguous on this point.

Let's look at a possible scenario. My wife, Karin, is a German citizen, residing here on a green card. She's been here since 1985. Let's say that she gets pulled over by a cop for speeding ( This has happened in the past. You can take the woman off the autobahn, but you can't take the autobahn out of the woman). Under the proposed law, the police officer might notice that my wife has a German accent and ask for proof that she is residing in the U.S. legally. According to the proposed legislation, my wife would then have to immediately produce her green card, or risk going to jail for up to 48 hours.

So, if my wife forgets her green card at home ( which has also happened in the past ), she could do jail time until she produces the necessary proof of legal residency. Now, am I being paranoid about all of this? Perhaps. Is it realistic that a police officer in Wisconsin would ask a nice German lady for her papers? Probably not. But what if my wife was a Latina, and had a thick Spanish accent? Or what if my wife looked like she was from the Middle East? This is a law just begging to be abused.

Lets take this just one step further. Even though I was born in Milwaukee, there are those who are convinced that I have no business being in this country. What if a cop asks me for proof of citizenship? I don't carry around a passport or my birth certificate. How would I prove that I have a legal right to be here? Yes, that scenario seems farfetched, but is it possible? Yes, it is.

Rep. Pridemore's proposed law is a bad law. Clearly the problem of immigration to the U.S. needs to be addressed, but this is not the way to do it.

Frank Pauc is a WNPJ member from Oak Creek, Wisconsin.

Michelle Naar-Obed: Report from Iraqi Kurdistan

A child at the Zharawa refugee camp on Iraq's border with Turkey.

Michelle Naar-Obed, of Loaves and Fishes Catholic Worker House in Duluth, sends this report about her latest journey with the Christian Peacemaking Team (CPT) to northern Iraq:

I have been back in the Kurdish north of Iraq for 3 weeks now. Some things have changed over the 7 months that I was at home in Duluth MN. Some changes for the better, some for the worse depending on which lens you are viewing this from. And then much has remained the same. In the scheme of things, 7 months is a millisecond where time is measured in millenniums.

For the 3 years that I have been working in the Kurdish north with Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT), we have focused primarily on the plight of the people in the village areas along the borders of Iran and Turkey. We have spent a lot of time trying to understand how a political and military web has been woven inside the Kurdish region of Iraq (KRG) with the permission of the KRG officials. Caught inside this tangled web are 1.5 million displaced civilian villagers who have been systematically attacked by both the Iranian and Turkish military. Accused of harboring the armed liberation groups PKK and PJAK, the border villages inside the sovereign state of Iraq are subject to these military operations which have also been backed and supported by the US in the name of fighting terrorism.

The village way of life, culturally and economically has been severely disrupted. Some villages have been destroyed, others damaged and many are now empty. Lives have been lost and many people have been injured both physically and psychologically. However, as a community, they have not been beaten spiritually. They still have hope and year after year, they put their crops back in the ground, wait in hope for their animals to have babies and multiply, take care of their bees so they can harvest the best honey in the region, and pray for good winter and spring rains. This year, they asked me if I could help them find out how to harvest electricity from animal manure, ie, how to convert methane gas into electricity.

Last year, CPT got a request from 137 families from 9 villages in the northeast corner of the Kurdish region to help convert their “internally displaced people's camp” (IDP camp) into a single village for all the families. We all worked very hard on this request. The village leaders drafted the proposal which was submitted to government officials and local nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). We went to meeting after meeting together and drank more cups of tea than any one person should consume in a lifetime. And we waited, and waited. Meanwhile, Iran attacked the villages relentlessly last spring and summer. They accused the KRG of hosting “foreign” governments that trained Kurdish Iranian dissidents to overthrow the Iranian government. Again, the Iraqi Kurdish villagers were caught in the web. They had hoped that houses would be built at the IDP camp which could be used as temporary safe houses when their villages were under attack.

While I was home in Duluth, I heard that the building project had come to a standstill over the summer of 2010. However in late fall, the foundation for 2 small houses for 2 families of elderly villagers was laid and when I arrived in early January the walls were built and they are still waiting for the roof and floors. We saw that electrical lines had been installed hooking them up to their national power line. The well that was dug 2 summers ago is still functioning and now they are hoping to get a small greenhouse so they can grow their own vegetables. They are very happy with all of these simple things that so many of us take for absolute granted. We have since heard that the government is assessing the housing needs for the other 135 families. Hope is still alive although every now and then it needs some resuscitation.

This year, CPT will continue to follow the plight of the IDPs but we plan to focus on the youth and women. These are the most vulnerable people living in lethal conflict zones. The youth in particular are in grave danger and they are the future leaders of the region. Their lives are constantly disrupted which means their education and family stability is broken with each round of attack that causes them to flee from their villages. Many of them have been traumatized and emotionally stunted.

The village youth are finding some support and friendship from the youth in the small nearby city, Rania. Plans are under way for a youth concert exchange project. By the way, Rania was the city that started the uprising against Saddam in 1991. The US encouraged the uprising but then turned their backs on the Kurds and the uprising failed. Rania, along with other nearby cities and villages experienced brutal retaliation until the northern no-fly zone was established by the United Nations. Rania is also the city that has partnered with Duluth MN to form the Duluth-Rania Friendship Exchange Project in 2009 which many of us in Duluth are very proud of.

CPT has also witnessed the brutal executions of Iranian Kurdish political prisoners. Public hanging is carried out routinely. As of 13 January, 75 people were executed and there is a record number of executions expected this year. Last week, a Dutch-naturalized Iranian woman was hung because she participated in a demonstration against the current Iranian government while she was visiting her family in Tehran in 2009. Many more political prisoners are on death row awaiting execution.

CPT recently received a request from a group of Iranian Kurds who are living in the KRG awaiting political asylum and relocation to a European host country. Some have been waiting for 6 years. Many are homeless, lacking work and basic necessities. The few that are employed are working as day laborers. Some have pooled their income so they can afford to rent a small flat together. They know they are being watched by Iranian intelligence and they live in fear of kidnapping and worse. They have asked CPT to document their stories and to make them visible to the world. CPT agreed to do this.

As always, I want to thank all of you that have supported the work of CPT. If you want more information about our work you can go to www.cpt.org, click on “our work” and then click on “Iraq Project”. You can also follow the progress of the Duluth-Rania Friendship Exchange Project by going to www.duluth-rania.org.

I expect to be in the Kurdish north until June 2011 and will continue to send monthly reports.

By the way, I butchered a goat for the first time in my life. The goat was brought as a gift from the villagers with whom we have been working. It was sacrificed in traditional manner and was killed quickly and respectfully. It was an honor to help prepare the goat for eating.

In Peace,

Michele Naar-Obed (obedsinduluth@yahoo.com)