A year ago, the original 21st century “Occupy” occurred in the United States – at the State Capitol in Madison, Wisconsin. Scott Walker, Tea Party, Koch-funded governor sought to eliminate collective bargaining of public workers. The unions erupted, thousands stormed the building and did not leave for two weeks. Even the Democrats in the state legislature fought this one as all of them fled Wisconsin to prevent a quorum for the vote. This constant protest materialised at the heels of the Egyptian Revolution to oust Mubarak. “We are Egypt” was the cry from the streets. I arrived in Madison in early March on the Union dollar. The physical all day occupation was over, but a presence of resistance continued to exist within and outside the building. Hundreds were still gathered, singing, chanting, speaking. Outside hundreds marched around the Capitol. The spirit was alive; people were angry, the air was electric with hope and despair. A little over a week later, Governor Walker decided it was time to by-pass the problem of quorum by removing the financial part of the bill which would allow it to pass without the Democrats. Clearly the contention was never about how to balance the budget in Wisconsin – it was how to demolish even the glimmer of a labor movement in the United States. Us, union organizers, were holed up in offices for most of our two week stay. We were asked to make phone calls in an attempt to build a database of all the union members since the bill could possibly bar the Union’s access to the workers at the workplaces. It was surreal, the week before the bill passed, the Union took the talent of organizers and used it for routine phonebanking. We were all perplexed and talked about need for a more radical approach. Yet the message from the Unions was recall. Recall those damn Republicans – they are the ones fucking shit up; look at the Democrats, they are on our side – they risk their lives by evading the vote. During the day, liberal reformism flowed in our dialogue; at night, pockets of resistance
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