Bush confronted at Wis. whistle stops
By Bryan G. Pfeifer
A coalition of labor, environmental,
lesbian/gay/bi/trans, women's rights and other progressive
organizations led by the Wisconsin AFL-CIO confronted the
racist war criminal George W. Bush on his campaign tour of
Wisconsin on July 14.
Tommy Thompson, former Wisconsin governor and now Secretary
of Health and Human Services, participated in Bush's entourage.
Thompson is responsible for the onslaught of the "W-2" attacks
on welfare, various school "choice" programs and other
draconian state policies in Wisconsin now exported nationally
and internationally. Most of these policies were largely
written by right-wing groups such as the Heritage Foundation
and financed by the Milwaukee-based Bradley Foundation.
At all three stops in Waukesha, Fon dulac and Ashwaubenon,
Bush was met by hundreds of protesters with banners, placards
and chants like "Drop Bush--not bombs," and "Bring back our
jobs."
Wisconsin has lost over 70,000 manufacturing jobs over the
past five years alone; the majority were union jobs. Although
organized labor's primary focus at these protests was to
increase support for Democratic presidential candidate John
Kerry, other independent class-conscious elements
participated.
"As soon as I heard George Bush was going to be here, I knew
I was going to be here," said Jason Holt of Green Bay. "I'm not
a Democrat. I'd rather see a third party. Someone other than
the money mongers and the Democrats." (Green Bay Press Gazette,
July 15)
Organizations participating in the protests included Action
Wisconsin, AFSCME, the Fondulac Education Associ ation, the
Greater Green Bay Labor Council, Independent Media
Center--Milwaukee and Madison, NARAL, the Madison Area Peace
Coalition, Milwaukee Coalition for a Just Peace, the Waukesha
County Labor Council and Wisconsin Citizen Action.
Reprinted from the July 29, 2004, issue of
Workers World newspaper
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