On many fronts
Wisconsin struggle moves forward
By
Bryan G. Pfeifer
Milwaukee, Wis.
Published Jul 29, 2011 8:18 AM
The candidate for senator who was endorsed by the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO won a
landslide victory on July 19 in the first of nine summer recall races. He is
Sen. Dave Hansen, one of the 14 state senators who opposed the assault on
collective bargaining rights led by Gov. Scott Walker and his pro-corporate
cronies in February.
Carlos Montes, wearing cap.
Photo: Committee to Stop FBI Repression
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That Hansen overwhelmingly defeated the reactionary Republican candidate
demonstrates strong opposition by workers and their allies to the
reactionaries’ attack on union rights, public education and health care.
The recalls have become a focal point in the effort to push back the right wing
and their extreme anti-worker, austerity agenda.
The labor federation’s “Truth Tour” bus that began rolling
through the state on July 16 is mobilizing for the recall elections set for
Aug. 9 and 16. This tour is bolstered statewide by tens of thousands of poor
and working people, who are knocking on doors, making phone calls and
protesting. They are confronting Walker and his cohorts wherever they show
up.
“The people of Green Bay are sending a strong message to undemocratic
leaders who are ramming through attacks on Wisconsin workers and
communities,” said Phil Neuenfeldt, president of the Wisconsin State
AFL-CIO. “Wisconsin will not stand for it.”
(www.wisaflcio.org)
Building a strong mass movement
Christine Neumann-Ortiz, executive director of Voces de la Frontera, the
Milwaukee-based immigrant rights organization, supports the recalls and the
mass mobilizations for them. However, she emphasizes the critical importance of
the growing Latino/a community in the United States and the power of
independent, grassroots struggle.
Neumann-Ortiz, writing in the July issue of Voces de la Frontera newspaper,
says in an article entitled “The Latino Vote in 2012” that the 2010
Census recorded that Latinos/as account for 5.9 percent of Wisconsin’s
population, or 336,056 people. Milwaukee County has the largest concentration
of Latinos/as with 126,039, followed by Dane County (Madison) with
28,925.”
She explains that there has been a 74 percent growth in the Latino/a population
in Wisconsin since 2000, with significant growth in rural districts where the
billion-dollar dairy and agricultural industries are based. Moreover, the
article reports that the census counted 50.5 million Latinos/as in the United
States, equaling 16.3 percent of the entire population. The Latino/a population
accounted for most of the nation’s growth — 56 percent —
between 2000 and 2010.
“Politicians from both parties should not take the Latino vote for
granted,” wrote Neumann-Ortiz. “Voters who want to see change
happen cannot just expect change to be delivered from the ballot box. We must
continue to build an organized community that advocates for its rights in the
workplace, in schools, and in every aspect of our lives, and that forms
important alliances in order to create a strong mass movement to achieve the
economic and social justice we seek.” (www.vdlf.org).
With Latinos/as now making up 15 percent of Milwaukee’s residents and the
African-American community comprising 40 percent, oppressed peoples now make up
the majority population of this working-class city. This is an important
development and bodes well for the growth of mass struggle here.
Fighting FBI repression
As part of building this progressive mass movement, the Milwaukee Committee to
Stop FBI Repression is hosting a community forum on July 30 at the University
of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in Room 181 of the Student Union.
The event’s flyer reads, “On Sept. 24, the FBI raided the homes of
prominent anti-war, immigrant rights, and international solidarity activists in
Chicago and Minneapolis. Since then, 23 activists have been subpoenaed to a
Grand Jury investigation and the home of prominent Chicano immigrant rights
organizer Carlos Montes was raided.
“The FBI is attacking these activists because of their political
activity. The U.S. government is using a 42-year-old charge from 1969 to
prosecute Carlos Montes today for a weapons and ammunition charge, and four
charges of perjury on his weapons permit, and his next court date is Aug. 12.
Montes is facing decades in prison. The activists have chosen to fight back,
uniting hundreds of labor, community, and student organizations, which all
condemn this wave of FBI repression.”
The public forum will feature Montes via live satellite; Tom Burke, national
spokesperson for the Committee to Stop FBI Repression; Professor Ahmed Mbalia
of Africans on the Move; and others. For more information, call
608-658-5480.
For information and to support the people’s movement in Wisconsin, see
www.defendwisconsin.org, www.vdlf.org, www.wisaflcio.org, wisaflcio.typepad.com
and www.wibailoutpeople.org.
Articles copyright 1995-2012 Workers World.
Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved.
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