Rallying for Wisconsin, Layoffs Loom, Libyans Fight On

February 27th, 2011 - by: danny

Listen: News Dissector Radio this week with guests Ed Rampell on the Oscars; discussion of Libya with Libyan activist, Najla Abdurrahman.

Rallying Again

I answered the the call, and became one of the 50,000 Americans who turned out to stand with Wisconsin on Saturday in solidarity demos in cities and state Capitols nationwide.

The Mobilization was impressive because it was put together in a few days. In Madison, Wisconsin, meanwhile, they had their largest turnout yet – 100,000 – including organized cops. The Governor is threatening mass layoffs this week, so this crisis is hardly over.

NYT: PHOTOS OF RALLIES NATIONWIDE

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2011/02/27/us/20110227_RALLIES.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha23

As the son of a labor family, I felt a duty to turn up at New York’s City Hall where the turnout — not as many as joined the AFL-CIO for a symbolic march on Wall Street last year – was certainly impressive considering. Some held union banners. Others wore cheesehead hats.

But when the speakers – mostly politicians, Congressmen like Rangel and Ndler did their warhorse thing, followed by city officials, the rhetoric seemed predictable Democratic Party cant about saving the middle class as if the governor of Wisconsin is the only one responsible for attacking it.

Wall Street, just a few blocks away, was largely off the hook with few mentions of substance about its role and the role of the big banks.

“Are you fired up?,” we were asked repeatedly but there was little inspiration. I sensed a beleaguered crowd because we all know this was a holding action, a fight to keep what the unions have, a defensive action, and not a rallying behind a program with broader appeal and a real program for change. The slogan du jour was “SAVE THE AMERICAN DREAM”, an appeal to what has become an unattainable myth at a time of mounting inequality. We need folks to stop dreaming and start acting, to free themselves from an attachment to slogans from another time. As one old song said, “nothin comes to a dreamer but a dream, y’all…”

Yes, its worth fighting for collective bargaining, a process I was part of as a shop steward at WBCN Radio in Boston in the days we were forced to strike to defend our rights (we won that one!)… but it wasn’t enough to secure the station’s future.

Wisconsin is showing a way to unify people of all backgrounds, but the rally I was at, alas, did not. Perhaps that’s what David Degraw is talking about in his latest post.

“Here is a rule of war that many people are failing to understand: ‘Do not fight the last war.” In The 33 Strategies of War, Robert Greene calls this “The Guerrilla-War-Of-The-Mind Strategy”:

‘What most often weighs you down and brings you misery is the past, in the form of unnecessary attachments, repetitions of tired formulas, and the memory of old victories and defeats. You must consciously wage war against the past and force yourself to react to the present moment. Be ruthless on yourself; do not repeat the same tired methods.’

The sad truth is that most people are still fighting yesterday’s war. The Republican vs. Democrat charade – good cop, bad cop nonsense – is a mere smokescreen.”

Workers, Students Vow to Fight on in Wisconsin Despite Threats of Lay-offs

Katrin Dauenhauer, Inter Press Service: “Despite heavy protests against Republican Governor Scott Walker’s ‘Budget Repair Bill’, the Republican-controlled State Assembly in Wisconsin abruptly passed the bill – which would strip the labour force of its collective bargaining rights – early Friday morning. The vote ended three straight days of strenuous debate in the Senate, but mass protests appear far from over… Wisconsin is only one of several Republican run states that have attempted to curb union rights. The struggle over labour rights has become a hot topic in several states across the country where new Republican majorities have proposed drastic budget cuts to tackle state

Iraq Veterans Against The War: “We Are Public Employees Too.”

http://www.ivaw.org/blog/we-are-public-employees-too

We Are Public Employees Too! ——– “Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) calls on all U.S. military service members to refuse and resist any mobilization against workers organizing to protect their basic rights. IVAW stands in solidarity with the multitude gathered in Madison, Wisconsin and many other cities to defend their unions.”

Real News Network: Live From Benghazi (Exclusive)

Libya: The Fight Is Not Over

WP: Gadaffi Is Still There: Rebel army may be formed as Tripoli fails to oust Gaddafi

Army leaders in eastern Libya who have turned against Col. Moammar Gaddafi’s regime are preparing to dispatch a rebel force to Tripoli to support the beleaguered uprising there, a top military official said Saturday in Benghazi.

NYT: An effort by Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi to prove that he was in control appeared to backfire as foreign journalists he invited in discovered open defiance.

AlJazeera: As pro-democracy demonstrators gain control of more cities in eastern Libya, Muammar Gaddafi’s many properties in the hands of protesters have been ransacked and destroyed.

One such palace sits on the outskirts of Benghazi, Libya’s second largest city and the de facto capital of the revolution.

Set in beautifully landscaped gardens, with a covered swimming pool, a sauna and a jacuzzi for Gaddafi and his guests, the palace offers a glimpse into the fortified world of a leader, who, according to US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks, suffers from a severe phobia.

With a fully equipped underground shelter designed to keep the leader safe for several months, in case of an attack involving use of unconventional weapons, the palace is more than just a luxurious castle.

The bunker in the palace has a fully serviced air filter system and is also equipped with emergency generators, fire alarm, water pumps, and a ladder fixed in what could have served as a back emergency exit to help the leader escape.

Gadaffi’s Arsenal

AFP reports Italy Has Supplied It

ROME (AFP) — Italy has sold Libya explosives, gun targeting equipment and other military hardware worth tens of millions of euros (dollars) in the past two years, the Corriere della Sera daily reported Saturday.

The Italian newspaper quoted an official report from the interior ministry that listed signed contracts as well as ongoing negotiations between Libya and several major Italian defence companies including industry giant Finmeccanica.

Missile systems maker Mbda Italia signed a deal worth 2.5 million euros in May 2009 to supply Libya with “material for bombs, torpedoes, rockets and missiles,” the interior ministry report was quoted as saying.

Ã¢â‚¬Â¦Italian anti-war non-governmental organisations earlier claimed that Italy in 2009 supplied Libya with 79-million-euros worth of light arms from gun maker Beretta, routing the shipment through the island of Malta.

“It’s also with these weapons that Kadhafi’s army is shooting the population,” the Italian Network for Disarmament and the Table of Peace said in a statement, asking the Italian government to suspend arms shipments.

Breaking news. Gadaffi’s Ukrainian Nurse Has Left his side.

Letter: Tyra Gerdiman writes: As Minyar Gaddafi loses his grip on Libya, one wonders how he was able to hold on for so long. For most of the people living on Earth, the name Gaddafi is synonymous with Libya. So how’d he do it?

“Divide and conquer, that’s how. Garner the loyalties of one tribe, then get them to believe that the reason why they are poor is because this other tribe has gamed the system. That way, America’s workers in the private sector can take out their rage on public sector workers who have decent benefits, the type of benefits that all workers used to have. That takes the focus away from the big corporations who got tax cuts while regular people go without insurance. Divide and conquer. Pretty clever, huh?”

Iraq: Lloyd Hart writes: “Anti-terrorist police in Nineveh, Iraq fired live bullets at demonstrators 02/25/2011 http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=131292120273300″

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